Rhynie Plant

Rhynie plant, rootless, leafless, spore-bearing plant preserved in the Rhynie Chert, a mineral deposit that has been dated to the early part of the Devonian Period (416 to 359 million years ago), near present-day Aberdeen, Scot. Rhynia, one of the most common forms, was about 18 cm (about 7 inches) tall and possessed water-conducting cells called tracheids in its stem, much like those of most living plants. Underground runners connected its aboveground stems; these stems were photosynthetic, branched evenly many times, and produced elliptical sporangia at the tip of every branch. Another genus, Horneophyton, resembled Rhynia, but its sporangia were cylindrical and formed in pairs at the branch tips. A third type, Asteroxylon, had kidney-bean-shaped sporangia located along the stem rather than at its tip; small flaps of tissue along the stem may have increased its photosynthetic surface. The most unusual Rhynie plant is Aglaophyton, which resembled Rhynia in most respects; however, its tracheids were more like those of modern mosses.

Along with several genera of plants, the Rhynie Chert preserves other organisms from the same interval of geologic time. These include the fungus Palaeomyces, which may have been either a parasite or a decomposer of the Rhynie vegetation. The Rhynie Chert also preserves a variety of arthropods that may have fed on the spores and tissues of the Rhynie plants.