Lycophytes

Western Australia has one of the most diverse floras in the world. From the giant Karri and Tingle forests in the south, to the scattered tropical rainforests in the north; from the incredibly species-rich sand heath flora in the south-west, to the desert floras of the inland parts of the State, more than 12,000 species of vascular plants are estimated to exist. The changing pattern of the fossil floras in Western Australia is a legacy of both their evolutionary history and of the changing environments in which they grew. In this booklet we provide an illustrated overview of Western Australia’s fossil plant record, based on fossil collections of the Western Australian Museum, the Department of Geology and Geophysics in the University of Western Australia, and the Geological Survey of Western Australia. Although many fossil plants that have been collected over the last 30 years still remain to be described, sufficient is known to provide a broad overview of the ancestors of the state’s highly diverse modern flora.

The cauline and leaf cushion morphology of Lepidophloios trees from lower and middle Pennsylvanian, American coal swamps
are described and compared with other Carboniferous specimens. More than one hundred specimens were anatomically studied from twenty-six localities in ten coals extending stratigraphically from the Magoffin Member, Breathitt Formation, Pottsville Group in the Appalachian Coal Province to the "Baker" Coal Member, Lisman Formation in the upper Desmoinesian Series of the midcominent Interior Coal Provinces. With few exceptions the stems are referable to one species along this entire stratigraphic range. The two previously described American species of Lepidophloios, L. kansanus (C. FELIX) EGGERT and L. pachydermatikos ANDREW & MURDY are placed in synonymy with Lepidophloios hallii (EVERS) comb. nov. which was originally described as a species of Lepidodendron. An emended diagnosis of Lepidophloios hallii is given and two taxa based on partially preserved specimens without leaf cushions are transferred from Lepidodendron to Lepidophloios as L. wilsonii (ANDREWS & BAXTER) comb. nov. and L. johnsonii (ARNOLD) comb. nov. on the basis of their cauline anatomy.
          The mature tree of Lepidophloios hallii attained a height of 10-20 m. A reconstruction of the crown suggests upright, compact, infrequent isotomous branching consistent with the lack of secondary supportive tissues in the branches. Most of the crown support was derived from the thick outer cortex. Cones were borne laterally in the upper crown and / or terminally on ultimate divisions of the crown. Specimens attributed to Lepidophloios kansanus are from the main trunk and lower part of the crown; those described as Lepidophloios pachydermatikos represent the middle and upper crown. There is no secondary xylem and very little periderm in these crown branches. Transitions between the two have been established and provide further documentation of positional differences in the tree of pith zonation, stelar dimensions, presence or absence of secondary growth and lateral branches, and depth of periderm initiation. Periderm development in Lepidophloios hallii originated from a bifacial phellogen. The size and degree of imbrication of leaf cushions are related to total size of the primary body and position on the cauline systems, hence to vegetative determinate growth. There is no evidence of continued leaf cushion expansion concomitant with secondary development of the stem. Leaf cushion morphology and their cuticles are very similar to those of Lepidophloios laricinus STERNBERG which is based on compressions and impressions.
          The most similar anatomically preserved European species to Lepidophloios hallii are L. harcoztrtii (WITHAM) SEWARD & HILL
and L. fuliginosus (WiLLIAMSON) SEWARD. All of these Upper Carboniferous species differ anatomically and morphologically
from the European Lepidophloios Wuenchianus (CARRUTHERS) SEWARD & HILL and L. scottii GORDON, primar ily from the Lower Carboniferous, and from the American L. johnsonii from the lower Pennsylvanian. These two groups of species, L. harcourtii and L. wuenchianus, overlap stratigraphically in the Namurian and Westphalian A. The L. w uenchiantts group is not known from coal swamp environments. The L. harcourtii group constitutes a major vegetationa! component of Euramerican coal swamps, with L. hallii stratigraphicall y complementing L. harcourtii and L. fuliginosus prior to and during the middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinsian Series or U.S.G.S. interval C).

Lepidodendron ophiurus Brongniart (Flemingitaceae, Lepidodendrales) has been gradually eroded as a distinct species by the inclusion of other species in its synonymy and as such is of no value for stratigraphical or palaeoecolgical interpretations. The species is critically re-examined, reinterpreted and rediagnosed with the aid of new epidermal details. One set of specimens, excluded from the synonymy are described in detail for the first time and referred to a new species Lepidodendron wingfieldense.

ABSTRACT--Charting the broad patterns of vascular plant evolution for Gondwana against the major global environmental shifts and events is attempted here for the first time. This is based on the analysis of the major vascular plant-bearing formations of the southern continents (plus India) correlated against the standard geological time-scale. Australia, followed closely by South America, are shown to yield by far the most complete sequences of productive strata. Ten seminal turnover pulses in the unfolding evolutionary picture are identified and seen to be linked to continental drift, climate change and mass global extinctions. The rise of vascular plants along the tropical belt, for instance, followed closely after the end-Ordovician warming and extinction. Equally remarkable is that the Late Devonian extinction may have caused both the terrestrialisation of the vertebrates and the origin of the true gymnosperms. The end-Permian extinction, closure of lapetus, together with warming, appears to have set in motion an unparalleled, explosive, gymnosperm radiation; whilst the Late Triassic extinction dramatically curtailed it. It is suggested that the latitudinal diversity gradient clearly recognised today, where species richness increases towards the tropics, may have been partly reversed during phases of Hot House climate. Evidence hints at this being particularly so at the heyday of the gymnosperms in the Late Triassic super-Hot House world. As for the origin of terrestrial, vascular, plant life, the angiosperms seem closely linked to a phase of marked shift from Ice House to Hot House.
Insect and tetrapod evolutionary patterns are discussed in the context of the plants providing the base of the ever-changing ecosystems. Intimate co-evolution is often evident. This isn't always the case, for example the non-linkage between the dominant, giant, long-necked, herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs and the dramatic radiation of the flowering plants in the Mid-Cretaceous.

RÉSUMÉ--Pour la première fois, une tentative de reconnaissance des modes principaux de l'evolution de la plante vasculaire du Gondwana en fonction des variations d'environnements et des événements globaux majeurs est présentée ici. Elle se fonde sur l'analyse des grandes formations à plantes vasculaires des continentaux méridionaux (plus l'Inde) corrélées avec les niveaux d'étage en fonction de l'échelle standard des temps géologiques. L'Australie, suivie de près par l'Amérique du Sud, montre les séquences de strates productives de loin les plus complètes. Dix épisodes de bouleversement sont identifiés dans l'établissement du tableau de l'évolution et sont liés de façons variées à la dérive des continents, aux changements climatiques et aux extinctions globales en masse. Par exemple, la progression des plantes vasculaires dans la zone tropicale a suivi de près le réchauffement et l'extinction de la fin de l'Ordovicien. Il est également remarquable que l'extinction du Dévonien tardif a pu déclencher à la fois la sortie des eaux des Vertébrés et l'origine des vrais Gymnospermes. L'extinction de la fin du Permien, et la fermeture de l'Ocean Iapetus, avec le réchauffement, semble avoir mis en mouvement une expansion explosive, sans parallèle, des Gymnospermes que l'extinction du Trias tardif a stoppée de façon brutale. Il est suggéré que le gradient de diversité en fonction de la latitude, clairement reconnu aujourd'hui, la richesse en nombre d'espèces augmentant vers les tropiques, a pu s'inverser en partie lors des phases de climat à effet de serre. L'apogée des Gymnospermes au Trias tardif sous un climat de super-effet de serre constitue un argument. Comme dans le cas de l'origine des plantes vasculaires terrestres, l'origine des Angiospermes semble étroitement liée à une phase de transition marquée d'un climat glaciaire à un climat chaud.
Les modes d'évolution des Insectes et des Tétrapodes, quoique non reportés, sont discutés dans le contexte des végétaux constituant la base des écosystèmes toujours en réorganisation. Des évolutions intimement mêlées sont souvent évidentes. Ce n'est pas toujours le cas, par exemple l'absence de lien entre les Dinosaures Sauropodes herbivores à long cou dominants et l'expansion extraordinaire des plantes à fleurs au cours du Crétacé moyen.

Fossil assemblages are described from the Tyers River Subgroup (late Berriasian to Hauterivian), Gippsland Basin, Victoria. The assemblages include plant macrofossils referable to 33 form-species including five new species (Isoetites abundans Tosolini & McLoughlin, Coniopteris victoriensis Nagalingum & McLoughlin, Otozamites douglasii Drinnan, Brachyphyllum tyersensis Tosolini & Nagalingum, Otwayia hermata Tosolini & McLoughlin) and three new combinations [Medwellia lacerata (Douglas) Nagalingum & McLoughlin, Rintoulia variabilis (Douglas) McLoughlin & Nagalingum, Pachydermophyllum austropapillosum (Douglas 1969) McLoughlin & Nagalingum]. Macrofossil assemblages include representatives of the Hepaticales, Isoetales, Equisetales, Filicopsida, seed-ferns, Coniferales and unionid bivalves. Co-preserved mesofossil suites include dispersed cuticle fragments, seed coats, seed megaspore membranes, microspore clusters, fern leptosporangia, charcoalified wood, resin blebs, epiphyllous fungal shields, clitellate annelid cocoons, insect exoskeleton fragments and coprolites. Sixteen lycophytic megaspore taxa were identified from the succession including six newly described species (Erlansonisporites confertus Tosolini, Favososporites brevis Tosolini, Hughesisporites australis Tosolini, Paxillitriletes rintoulensis Tosolini, Striatriletes imperfectus Tosolini, Trikonia locmaniensis Tosolini). These represent the first Neocomian megaspores formally described from Australia and their diversity and abundance indicates that lycophytes represented a significant component of the Early Cretaceous vegetation. The Tyers River Subgroup shares some taxa with the well-studied Koonwarra Fossil Bed (Aptian) flora of the Gippsland Basin but lacks several key elements (Ginkgoales, angiosperms and large-leafed araucarian conifers) and is more closely comparable to Jurassic floras of eastern Australia in its strong representation of bennettitalean, pentoxylalean and other seed-fern remains. The Tyers River Subgroup flora differs from coeval northwestern Australian floras by possession of smaller-leafed bennettites, Komlopteris and Pachydermophyllum species and by the lack of dipteridacean and gleicheniacean/lophosoriacean fern macrofossils. This intra-Australian provincialism is interpreted to be largely a function of palaeolatitude-induced climatic differences. Six major biofacies (one divisible into four sub-facies) are recognized in the Tyers River Subgroup and are attributable to three broad environmental settings within fluvial depositional tracts. Channel deposits host principally detrital plant remains derived from a broad range of riparian, upland, and reworked floodbasin communities. Silty floodbasin deposits typically host a mixture of pteridosperm-, fern- and lycophyte-dominated assemblages derived from a mosaic of herb-, shrub- and small tree-dominated communities developed mainly in perennially or seasonally wet environments. Better-drained, intervening levee, crevasse splay and neighbouring upland environments are interpreted to have hosted a conifer-dominated flora contributing to conifer-, root/rhizome-, megaspore-and clitellate-rich fossil associations. The floristic diversity, foliar morphology of selected species, strong representation of deciduous taxa and sedimentological data collectively suggest that seasonally cold conditions prevailed during the Neocomian-Aptian compared to the Albian in southeastern Australia.

The three Isoetes species recorded from Thessalia (Thessaly) in N Greece by Haussknecht, in 1899, under the names I. setacea, I. heldreichii, and I. phrygia, were reassessed using megaspore and microspore ornamentation in addition to macromorphological features. “Isoetes setacea” is not the SW European I. delilei to which the name I. setacea was generally misapplied, nor “I. echinospora” as it has been called due to a misunderstanding, but a so far undescribed species here named I. haussknechtii; it has not been found again in Haussknecht’s locality but has recently turned up in Peloponnisos and the E Aegean Islands. I. heldreichii, described from Haussknecht’s gathering, is apparently extinct. The record of I. phrygia was based on misidentified I. gymnocarpa. Even so, contrary to prevailing opinion, Haussknecht was justified in raising Boissier’s I. histrix var. phrygia to specific rank; genuine I. phrygia has recently been discovered in Kriti (Crete). The inventory of Greek Isoetes now comprises seven species, of which I. phrygia and I. todaroana are newly recorded here. Greek specimens studied are cited for all of them, and a key for their identification is presented. The names I. heldreichii and I. phrygia are typified.

Diminutive, silica-permineralized lycopsid axes, from a Guadalupian (Middle Permian) silicified peat in the
Bainmedart Coal Measures of East Antarctica are described and assigned to Paurodendron stellatum sp. nov. Axes consist only of primary-growth tissues with a vascular system characterized by an exarch actinostele with 6–20 protoxylem points. Stems have a relatively narrow cortex of thin-walled cells that are commonly degraded, but the root cortex typically contains more robust, thick-walled cells. The stems bear helically inserted, elliptical–rhombic, ligulate microphylls. Roots possess an eccentrically positioned monarch vascular strand. Paurodendron stellatum is one of a very small number of anatomically preserved lycopsid axes described from
the Gondwanan Permian and represents the first post-Carboniferous record of this genus. Based on dispersed
vegetative remains, megaspores and microspores, herbaceous lycopsids, such as P. stellatum, appear to have been important understorey components of both low- and high-latitude mire forests of the late Palaeozoic.

Fully contained within the Atlantic Forest Biome, the state of Rio de Janeiro represents one of the greatest areas of diversity of vegetation physiognomy, habitats and plant species, including endemics. The flora of Rio de Janeiro state is recognized as one of the richest in the country and the state as an important center of endemism. These features have encouraged diferent botanical studies, highligthing Vellozo, Cysneiros, Glaziou, Gardner, among others, as precursor naturalists in exploration native forests. It is presented physiographic features of the state and brief retrospective of the Flora of Rio de Janeiro state project, which began in 2001, and consolidated in 2007 with a checklist prepared and made available online, and in 2011, with the implantation of the Catálogo de espécies de plantas vasculares e briófitas da flora do estado do Rio de Janeiro, with the participation of over 150 participants working online. Currently 334 families, 1,821 genera and, 8,203 species, subspecies and varieties have been recorded to the state, 1,740 of which are endemic. We highlight the vegetation formations, municipalities, conservation unities, and families of angiosperms, bryophytes, ferns and lycophytes families most diverse, as well as comments about monographic treatments already published. This special volume of Rodriguésia dedicated to the flora of Rio de Janeiro state presentes 19 families with 76 species of Angiosperms-Aizoaceae, Alismataceae,

Endophytes are a large and diverse group of fungi
that colonize healthy plant tissues without causing any symptoms.
The majority of studies have focused on angiosperm
and conifer hosts and few have examined the endophytes of
lycophytes. In the present study, we characterized culturable
endophytic fungi in two closely related Lycopodium species
(L. annotinum and L. clavatum) from pine, beech, oak and
spruce forests across Poland. More than 400 strains were
isolated but only 18 Ascomycete species were identified.
Members of the Dothideomycetes dominated the fungal endophyte
communities in Lycopodium. The most abundant taxa
cultured were Phoma brasiliensis (from L. clavatum) and
Paraconiothyrium lycopodinum (from L. annotinum). Five
taxa were isolated exclusively from L. annotinum, but only
two of them (Paraconiothyrium lycopodinum and
Mycosphaerella sp.) were relatively abundant. Two taxa were
only found in L. clavatum, namely: Stagonospora
pseudovitensis and an unidentified Dothideomycete. The taxon
assigned as Ascomycota 2 (SH219457.06FU) was isolated
only from strobili of both host species. Direct PCR and cloning
from L. annotinum shoots revealed a substantially greater
endophyte richness compared with the results from culturing.

Resumen El Parque Provincial Moconá se encuentra situado en el extremo este de la provincia de Misiones (Argentina), circundado por los ríos Yabotí y Uruguay. Pertenece a la Reserva de la Biosfera Yabotí y, en conjunto con otras áreas protegidas dentro de la Reserva Yabotí, representa uno de los principales relictos de selva paranaense del país. En el presente trabajo se llevó a cabo un relevamiento exhaustivo de las especies de helechos y licofitas que crecen en el parque. Se realizaron viajes de recolección al área de estudio y se consultaron los herbarios nacionales. Se hallaron 71 taxones de los cuales 38 representaron nuevos registros para el área protegida. Se provee una clave para el reconocimiento de los taxones y se realizan consideraciones respecto a su hábitat. Adicionalmente se discute su relación con el Parque Estadual do Turvo, Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil) con el cual limita, y la relevancia respecto a la conservación de la flora nativa. Palabras clave: biodiversidad, Paranaense, Reservas de la Biosfera, Río Uruguay. Abstract The Parque Provincial Moconá is in the east of the Misiones province, surrounded by Yabotí and Uruguay rivers. It belongs to Yabotí Biosphere Reserve, and together with other Biosphere's protected areas, it represents one of the main relicts of the Paranaense forest in the country. In this work, fern and lycophyte species that grow in the park were exhaustively surveyed. Field trips were carried out to the study area and national herbaria were consulted. Seventy-one taxa were found, 38 of which represent new records for the protected area. A comprehensive key to the species and habitat considerations are provided. Additionally, the relationship with the adjacent protected area Parque Estadual do Turvo, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and the relevance to the conservation of native flora is discussed.

The cauline and leaf cushion morphology of five species of anatomically preserved Lepidodendron are described from Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian coals of Euramerica. These species are Lepidodendron vasculare Binney, L. scleroticum Pannel, L. dicentricum C. Felix emend. DIMichele, L. serratum C. Felix emend. Leisman & Rivers, and L. phillipsii sp. nov. Lepidodendron brevifolium Williamson and Lepidodendron hickii Watson have morphologies distinct from other species of Lepidodendron and from each other. Their inclusion within the generic concept of Lepidodendron has been the major factor in the problems regarding separation of anatomically preserved Lepidodendron and Lepidophloios.
    The species of Lepidodendron comprise three distinct morphological groups with different patterns of reproduction and evolution. Lepidodendron vasculare, L. scleroticum, and L. phillipsii are similar anatomically. All were 8-20 m tall and bore deciduous lateral branches on excurrent trunks. Cones of the Achlamydocarpon varius-type were produced subterminally on the deciduous branches conferring plants with the capacity for low-level but sustained reproduction. Lepidodendron dicentricum trees were 10-15 m tall with synchronously determinate crowns. Achlamydocarpon varius-type cones were produced in large numbers near branch tips late in determinate growth - the trees were possibly monocarpic. Lepidodendron serratum was herbaceous and produced Achlamydocarpon takhtajanii-type cones. All species have non-coronate steles, ranging from haplostelic to siphonostelic in the large stems, a three zoned cortex with varying degrees of "dictyoxylon' development in the thick outer zone, and, except for L. serratum, a distinctly bifacial periderm with phelloderm consisting of alternating bands of thick and thin-walled cells and a homogeneous phellem.
    The morphological similarities of Lepidodendron vascalare, L. scleroticum and L. phillipsll suggest a close evolutionary relationship. Lepidodendron vasculare occurred in many different types of coal-swamp environments from the Westphalian A to the early Westphalian D. In the early Westphalian D, L. scleroticum and L. phillipsli first appeared in the same swamp floras as L. vasculare. This was followed by segregation of each species to a distinctive swamp depositional setting and flora, with little or no further cooccurrence. Lepidodendron dicentricum may have evolved from populations of L. vasculare, or a morphologically similar species, in the Westphalian B; L. dicentricum occurred in coal swamps up to the late Westphalian D. More morphological variability is displayed by L. dicentricum than by other species of coal-swamp lycopod trees, and each morpho-type is confined to a distinct type of coal-swamp environment. Lepidodendron serratum displays little morphological variability throughout its range in coal swamps, from the Westphalian A to the Westphalian D. Its evolutionary relationship to other species of Lepidodendron is not clear.
    Coal swamp environments may have been evolutionary refugia for Lepidodendron and Lepidophloios. Their inherent morphological conservatism, plus their highly specialized reproductive biologies, made these lycopods extremely well adapted to the aquatic conditions of the swamp. Major speciation probably occurred in extra-coal swamp environments, particularly in the case of Lepidodendron.

An assemblage of fossil plants is here recorded from the Middle Devonian Beacon Heights Orthoquartzite and overlying Aztec Siltstone (Taylor Group), of the Cook Mountains and Skelton Névé regions, south Victoria Land, Antarctica. The Beacon Heights Orthoquartzite exposed in the southern Cook Mountains yielded specimens of the lycopods Haplostigma lineare, Malanzania sp., and Archaeosigillaria sp. cf. A. caespitosa. The Aztec Siltstone flora contains Praeramunculus alternatiramus and H. lineare.

New collections of pyritized axes of the lycophyte Wexfordia hookense have been made from the Upper Devonian (uppermost Famennian) type locality at Sandeel Bay, County Wexford, in southeastern Ireland. The specimens reveal additional histological features that permit reinterpretation of the morphology of this taxon and reevaluation of its taxonomic affinities. Wexfordia is shown to possess both secondary xylem, with narrow, uni-to biseriate rays, and periderm. The range of variation in relative amounts of primary and secondary xylem can be correlated with position in the mature plant. This evidence indicates that Wexfordia was a small tree rather than an herbaceous form. Fine structure of tracheids and additional anatomical features strongly support affinities with Carboniferous arborescent Isoetales, rather than Devonian Protolepidodendrales, and further support the hypothesis that radiation in this lineage was well underway prior to the Carboniferous.

In this study we update the taxonomy and distribution of the Osmundaceae, a family of ferns that inhabits the subtropical forest and wetlands of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Currently, the family comprises four genera, two of them, with one species each, are represented in the study region. Osmunda spectabilis is accepted as a valid species, distinct from O. regalis, which is not present in the study area. Osmundastrum is recognized at the generic level with only one species Osmundastrum cinnamomeum var. cinnamomeum. A key to the genera, descriptions, relevant synonymy for South America, distributions, and illustrations of the species are included. Osmunda imbricata, Osmunda palustris and Osmunda spectabilis var. brasiliensis are lectotypified.

A branched shoot with several attached microsporangiate strobili of the Rhaetian (late Triassic) herbaceous lycophyte Selaginellites coburgensis is described from Wüstenwelsberg near Coburg, Germany, the locus typicus of the species. The strobili all contain Uvaesporites-type microspores, precisely as the single, detached strobilus fragment found in association with one of the original specimens.

—Acrorumohra subreflexipinna, an endemic fern of Taiwan, has been suspected to be a hybrid species. The aims of this study were to detect possible multiple origins of this species, determine the genetic variation in different populations, and clarify their lineages. One nuclear and three organellar DNA fragments were sequenced to determine parentage of this putative hybrid and to examine genetic differentiation among populations. Sequence data support the conclusion that A. subreflexipinna arose from the hybridization of A. hasseltii and A. diffracta, and the hybridization was uni-directional, i.e., based on the assumption of maternal inheritance in organellar DNA, the former was its maternal species while the latter was its paternal source. A convincing interpretation is that the female gametes of A. hasseltii gametophyte could be fertilized by the male gametes from apogamous A. diffracta. Unique nuclear alleles present in different populations of A. subreflexipinna and A. hasseltii demonstrated that hybridization occurred many times independently. The nuclear haplotypes present in A. subreflexipinna were subsets of those found in the parental species, and A. subreflexipinna always had lower haplotype diversity than A. hasseltii at sympatric sites. Our results show that any genetic variation of A. subreflexipinna came from its parents and that it maintains this significant genetic variability because of recurrent hybridization.

The anatomy and morphology of the stem of Lepidodendron dicentricum C. Felix are re-evaluated and re-interpreted on the
basis of specimens from eight coals in the United States. These coals extend stratigraphically from the Buffaloville (Indiana) equivalent coal, Cherokee Group of Iowa to the Baker Coal Member, Lisman Formation of western Kentucky. The species has not been reported previously from coals other than the Fleming Coal Member of Kansas, due primarily to the peculiar characteristics of the type specimens from that coal. The most apparent and superficial difference between these specimens and specimens from other coals isthe lack of secretory cells in tissues of Fleming Coal Member specimens; secretory cells are abundant in specimens from most other coals. In Fleming Coal Member specimens varying percentages of parenchyma cells internal to the elongate metaxylem tracheids have
secondary wall thickenings; this zone is re-interpreted as a pith rather than the inner zone of a two zoned protostele. Parichnos is
shown not to connect to the lateral groove beneath the leaf scar on the cushion surface as originally described. Large specimens of
L. dicentricum have anatomy that corresponds to that of Lepidodendron schizostelicum Arnold, also described originally from the Fleming Coal Member. L, schizostelicum is placed in synonymy with t. dicentricum.
  Several important characteristics of Lepidodendron dicentricum sepatate it from other species of Lepidodendron. Pith and primary
xylem are sharply delimited; in large specimens the primary xylem is divided into discrete units by longitudinal columns of
parenchyma that are continuous with broad wood rays; leaf traces are ensheathed by inner cortical cells throughout their length in the middle cortex; the outer cortex consists of homogeneous thinner-walled cells rather than alternating areas of thick and thin-walled cells; the periderm originated from a bifacial cambium, which produced histologically distinct phellem and phelloderm; there are conspicuous zones of secondary, tangential cell expansion between the leaf bases that correspond to interareas seen in compressions. Protostelic lateral branches, which may be cone peduncles, are borne subterminally on siphonostelic branches that usually lack wood. The
distribution of L. dicentricum correlates closely with that of Achlamydocarpon varius, which may represent the fructification of the plant. The habit of L. dicentricum is incompletely known; it did branch by anisotomous dichotomies at irregular intervals and of different angles. It appears to have been of greater height and more highly branched than Lepidophloios. An emended diagnosis of Lepidodendron dicentricum is given.

Isoetes naipiana (Isoetaceae), a new species from southern Brazil Abstract Windisch P. G., Lorscheitter M. L. & Nervo M. H.: Isoetes naipiana (Isoetaceae), a new species from southern Brazil. – Willdenowia 44: 393 – 398. 2014. – Version of record first published online on 10 November 2014 ahead of inclusion in December 2014 issue; ISSN 1868-6397; Isoetes naipiana (Isoetaceae), a new species from southern Brazil, is described, illustrated and compared to similar species. So far it is known only from the original locality in the open grasslands of the upper highlands in the NE region of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). It is characterized by megaspores with an irregular reticulum on the surface, presenting deposition of thin parallel silica strands; laevigate microspores; and arcuate microphylls with shortly alate bases, forming a compact rosette around the erect bilobate corm.

An annotated synonymic inventory of Italian Selaginella taxa, a practical key for their identification and their dot distribution
maps are presented, as a result of our work on the Selaginellaceae account for the Flora Critica d’Italia. The names Lycopodium helveticum L. and Selaginella denticulata var. platystachya Hieron. are typified.

As a result of our work on the Lycopodiaceae account for the Critical Flora of Italy, a new, synonymic inventory of Italian taxa
is presented, based on herbarium studies and critical re-examination of extant literature. Three genera with eight species are accepted: Huperzia (1 species), Lycopodiella (1), and Lycopodium (6). An additional, ninth species (Lycopodiella cernua) is listed as a casual alien. The genus Diphasiastrum, accepted in several recent works, is treated at sectional level within Lycopodium (three species and their three hybrids). Lycopodium lagopus ( ¼ L. clavatum subsp. monostachyon) is a recent addition to the Italian flora. Images of five types and Internet URI of other six types are supplied. Dot distribution maps and a dichotomous key to Italian species are provided. It is shown that the family name Urostachyaceae (a family here not separated from Lycopodiaceae) was validly published and has priority over Huperziaceae, for which the oldest name, however, would be Phylloglossaceae.

In this study we update the taxonomy and distribution of the Osmundaceae, a family of ferns that inhabits the subtropical forest and wetlands of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Currently, the family comprises four genera, two of them, with one species each, are represented in the study region. Osmunda spectabilis is accepted as a valid species, distinct from O. regalis, which is not present in the study area. Osmundastrum is recognized at the generic level with only one species Osmundastrum cinnamomeum var. cinnamomeum. A key to the genera, descriptions, relevant synonymy for South America, distributions, and illustrations of the species are included. Osmunda imbricata, Osmunda palustris and Osmunda spectabilis var. brasiliensis are lectotypified.