''Salopella'' is a

form genus Form classification is the classification of organisms based on their morphology, which does not necessarily reflect their biological relationships. Form classification, generally restricted to palaeontology, reflects uncertainty; the goal of s ...

for small fossil plants of Late

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

to Early

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

age. The diagnostic characters are naked axes branching isotomously, terminating in

fusiform Fusiform means having a spindle-like shape that is wide in the middle and tapers at both ends. It is similar to the lemon-shape, but often implies a focal broadening of a structure that continues from one or both ends, such as an aneurysm on a b ...

sporangia. The sporangia are unbranched, but in at least the type species the axes seem to branch just under the sporangia. It differs from the similar form genus ''

Tortilicaulis ''Tortilicaulis'' is a moss-like plant known from fossils recovered from southern Britain, spanning the Silurian-Devonian boundary (around ). Originally recovered from the Downtonian of the Welsh borderlands, ''Tortilicaulis'' has since been r ...

'' in that the sporangia do not have spirally arranged cells, and from other similar form genera such as '' Cooksonia'', ''

Uskiella ''Uskiella'' is a genus of small fossil plants of Early Devonian age (around ). The diagnostic characters are naked axes branching isotomously, terminating in ellipsoidal, vertically elongate flat sporangia which split longitudinally into two va ...

'' and '' Tarrantia'' in the shape of the sporangia. Species have been reported from Wales, Xinjiang, Brazil and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Most species are based on very small fragments of the tips of plants, the exceptions being the two Australian species which preserve rather more of the plant. The relationships of the genus are not clear because many anatomical details remain unknown. A useful summary table of what data is known was given by

Edwards Edwards may refer to: People * Edwards (surname) * Edwards family, a prominent family from Chile * Edwards Barham (1937-2014), a former member of the Louisiana State Senate * Edwards Pierrepont (1817–1892), an American attorney, jurist, and ora ...

et al. It has been considered to be a member of the rhyniophytes.

References

Silurian plants Early Devonian plants Prehistoric plant genera Silurian first appearances Early Devonian genus extinctions {{devonian-plant-stub