''Uskiella'' is a genus of small fossil plants of

Early Devonian The Early Devonian is the first of three Epoch (geology), epochs comprising the Devonian period, corresponding to the Lower Devonian Series (stratigraphy), series. It lasted from and began with the Lochkovian Stage , which was followed by the P ...

age (around ). The diagnostic characters are naked axes branching isotomously, terminating in ellipsoidal, vertically elongate flat sporangia which split longitudinally into two valves. Spores of ''U. reticulata'' have a reticulate appearance. Coalified specimens have been reported from Wales, with a possible occurrence in Australia. The relationships of the genus are not clear because many anatomical details remain unknown. In 2004, Crane et al. published a

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ...

for the polysporangiophytes in which ''Uskiella'' is basal to the

lycophytes The lycophytes, when broadly circumscribed, are a vascular plant (tracheophyte) subgroup of the kingdom Plantae. They are sometimes placed in a division Lycopodiophyta or Lycophyta or in a subdivision Lycopodiophytina. They are one of the oldest ...

(clubmosses and relatives). Hao and Xue in 2013 listed the genus as a

rhyniophyte The rhyniophytes are a group of extinct early vascular plants that are considered to be similar to the genus ''Rhynia'', found in the Early Devonian (around ). Sources vary in the name and rank used for this group, some treating it as the class R ...

References

Early Devonian plants Prehistoric plant genera {{devonian-plant-stub