View source for Dutoitea

{{Short description|Extinct genus of Devonian organisms}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = [[Early Devonian]] to [[Middle Devonian]]
| display_parents = 3
| taxon = Dutoitea
| authority = Hoeg, 1930
}}
'''''Dutoitia''''' is a [[genus]] of [[Devonian]] [[rhyniophyte]], named after the renowned [[South Africa]]n [[geologist]] [[Alex du Toit]]. It is one of the earliest plants from [[Gondwana]] to colonize land. Its fossils were preserved in fine mudstones of the 400-million-year-old [[Bokkeveld Group|Bokkeveld]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=McCarthy |first1=T. |last2=Rubidge |first2=B. |year=2005 |title=The story of Earth & Life. A southern African perspective on a 4.6-billion-year journey |publisher=Struik Publishers |location=Cape Town}}</ref> and [[Witteberg Group]]s of [[South Africa]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=J.M. |last2=Anderson |first2=H.M. |year=1985 |title=Palaeoflora of southern Africa. Prodromus of South African megafloras: Devonian to Lower Cretaceous |publisher=A.A. Balkema |location=Rotterdam}}</ref> This erect, gracile plant is less than 10&nbsp;cm high and very simple in structure. Its diminutive stems (0.1–3.0&nbsp;mm in diameter), which are devoid of leaflike appendages, branch in two<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Boyce |first1=C.K. |year=2008 |title=How green was Cooksonia? The importance of size in understanding the early evolution of physiology in the vascular plant lineage |journal=Paleobiology |volume=34 |issue=2 |page=179 |issn=0094-8373 |doi=10.1666/0094-8373(2008)034[0179:hgwcti]2.0.co;2 }}</ref> and end in club- or cup-shaped [[sporangia]], occasionally containing its reproductive [[spore]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Gensel, P. |year=1980 |title=Devonian in situ spores: a survey and discussion |journal=Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology |volume=30 |pages=101–106 |doi=10.1016/0034-6667(80)90009-3 |bibcode=1980RPaPa..30..101G |issn=0034-6667}}</ref> [[Stomata]] (tiny pores) are present in the [[cuticle]] of their stems for gas exchange, and primitive cells inside the stems transported water from the roots to the aerial parts of the plant. Three species are recognized, ''D. pulchra'' Hoeg 1930 (from the [[Bloukrans River (Garden Route)|Bloukrans River]] in the [[Knysna]] district, Ceres Subgroup, Lower Bokkeveld Group), ''D. alfreda'' Plumstead 1967 ([[Port Alfred]], Weltevrede Subgroup, Lower Witteberg Group) and ''D. maraisia'' Plumstead 1967 (Howisons Poort, Witpoort Sandstone, Middle Witteberg Group).
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5317527}}
[[Category:Early Devonian plants]]
[[Category:Early Devonian first appearances]]
[[Category:Middle Devonian genus extinctions]]
[[Category:Middle Devonian plants]]
[[Category:Prehistoric plant genera]]
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