Sawdoniaceae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of extinct

zosterophyll The zosterophylls are a group of extinct land plants that first appeared in the Silurian period. The taxon was first established by Banks in 1968 as the subdivision Zosterophyllophytina; they have since also been treated as the division Zosteroph ...

s. The zosterophylls were among the first

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

s in the fossil record, and are considered to share an ancestor with the living lycophytes. The family is recognized by some sources, and placed in the

Sawdoniales The Sawdoniales are an order or plesion of extinct zosterophylls. The zosterophylls were among the first vascular plants in the fossil record, and share an ancestor with the living lycophytes. The group has been divided up in various ways. In t ...

. Other sources do not recognize the family, and place some of its members in the family Gosslingiaceae.

Genera

Genera that have been placed in this family by Kenrick and Crane in 1997 are shown in the table below, along with their treatment by Hao and Xue in 2013.

References

Zosterophylls Prehistoric plant families {{paleobotany-stub