''Hostinella'' is a form genus, used for bare dichotomously branching stems (axes) which have not been found in association with

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

-forming organs or

sporangia A sporangium (; from Late Latin, ) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cy ...

and so cannot be assigned to a more precise genus or species. Specimens assigned to this genus have been found in Bathurst Island, Canada, in the

Bertie Formation The Bertie Group or Bertie Limestone, also referred to as the Bertie Dolomite and the Bertie Formation, is an upper Silurian ( Pridoli, or Cayugan and Ulsterian age in the local chronologies) geologic group and Lagerstätte in southern Ontario ...

of Upper Silurian age (around ), where the stems are approximately 1.2 mm in diameter; and in Lower Devonian Senni beds (from around ) where the axes have a straited external appearance and contain xylem with tracheids (diameter: 40 µm). It is known to co-occur with ''

Krithodeophyton ''Krithodeophyton'' is a genus of lower Devonian plant with branching axes. It is considered to be a barinophyte. Phylogeny The phylogenetic position of the barinophytes remains disputed. Kenrick and Crane in 1997 called the group the Barinophy ...

''.

References

Silurian plants Early Devonian plants Prehistoric plant genera Silurian first appearances Early Devonian genus extinctions Paleozoic life of Ontario Paleozoic life of Nunavut Bertie Formation Prehistoric plants of North America {{devonian-plant-stub