Isoetophyta

Lake quillwort Isoetes lacustris, photographed by Carl Farmer.

Belongs within: Lycopodiopsida.
Contains: Selaginella.

The Isoetophyta include the modern quillworts (Isoetes) and spikemosses (Selaginella). Modern species are small herbaceous plants, but the Palaeozoic Lepidodendrales included large arborescent forms. Isoetophytes possess a ligule, and most species except the basal Devonian Leclercqia are heterosporous (Doyle 1998). Isoetes species are aquatic or grow in wet ground, and have crowded quill-like leaves arising from a short central axis (Allan 1961).

Isoetophyta
    |--Leclercqia complexa CD07, BC98
    `--Isoetopsida [Glossopsida] CD07
         |--Selaginella CD07
         `--+--Lepidodendrales D98
            |    |--Stigmaria D98
            |    |    |--S. ficoides A38
            |    |    `--S. rugulosa CWC87
            |    `--Lepidodendron [Lepidocarpaceae] CWC87
            |         |--L. corrugatum A38
            |         |--L. dichotomum F71
            |         |--L. leeianum CWC87
            |         |--L. nothum F71
            |         |--L. veltheimianum F71
            |         `--L. vokmannianum ZP86
            `--+--Chaloneria D98
               `--+--Pleuromeia D98
                  `--Isoetes Linnaeus 1753 CD07, A61 [Isoetaceae, Isoetales]
                       |--I. alpinus Kirk 1875 [incl. I. multiangularis Col. 1890] A61
                       |--I. capensis RHS09
                       |--I. colamandrina Linnaeus 1781 I88
                       |--I. coromandeliana JG02
                       |--I. drummondii GK00
                       |--I. eludens Roux, Hopper & Smith 2009 RHS09
                       |--I. flaccida SL05
                       |--I. histrix Y98
                       |--I. kirkii Braun 1869 A61
                       |--I. lacustris Linnaeus 1753 CD07
                       |--I. savatieri M03
                       `--I. toximontana RHS09

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A38] Alcock, F. J. 1938. Geology of Saint John region, New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 216: 1-65.

[A61] Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand vol. 1. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. R. E. Owen, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[BC98] Bateman, R. M., P. R. Crane, W. A. DiMichele, P. R. Kenrick, N. P. Rowe, T. Speck & W. E. Stein. 1998. Early evolution of land plants: phylogeny, physiology, and ecology of the primary terrestrial radiation. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 29: 263-292.

[CWC87] Cai C.-Y., Wen Y.-G. & Chen P.-Q. 1987. Archaeopteris florula from Upper Devonian of Xinhui County, central Guangdong and its stratigraphical significance. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 26 (1): 55-64.

[CD07] Cantino, P. D., J. A. Doyle, S. W. Graham, W. S. Judd, R. G. Olmstead, D. E. Soltis, P. S. Soltis & M. J. Donoghue. 2007. Towards a phylogenetic nomenclature of Tracheophyta. Taxon 56 (3): E1-E44.

[D98] Doyle, J. A. 1998. Phylogeny of vascular plants. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 29: 567-599.

[F71] Fletcher, H. O. 1971. Catalogue of type specimens of fossils in the Australian Museum, Sydney. Australian Museum Memoir 13: 1-167.

[GK00] Gibson, N., & G. J. Keighery. 2000. Flora and vegetation of the Byenup-Muir reserve system, south-west Western Australia. CALMScience 3 (3): 323-402.

[I88] Iwatsuki, K. 1988. An enumeration of the pteridophytes of Nepal. In The Himalayan Plants vol. 1 (H. Ohba & S. B. Malla, eds) The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 231-339.

[JG02] Joseph, T. S., & C. B. Gena. 2002. A comparative study on the reproductive biology of three Indian species of Marsilea. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 99 (3): 583-586.

[M03] Macloskie, G. 1903. Pteridophyta, ferns and fernlike plants. In Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia, 1896-1899, vol. 8—Botany (W. B. Scott, ed.) pp. 127-138. The University: Princeton (New Jersey).

[RHS09] Roux, J. P., S. D. Hopper & R. J. Smith. 2009. Isoetes eludens (Isoetaceae), a new endemic species from the Kamiesberg, Northern Cape, South Africa. Kew Bulletin 64 (1): 123-128.

[SL05] Small, R. L., E. B. Lickey, J. Shaw & W. D. Hauk. 2005. Amplification of noncoding chloroplast DNA for phylogenetic studies in lycophytes and monilophytes with a comparative example of relative phylogenetic utility from Ophioglossaceae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 36: 509-522.

[Y98] Yannitsaros, A. 1998. Additions to the flora of Kithira (Greece) I. Willdenowia 28: 77-94.

[ZP86] Zhang, R., & J. Pojeta, Jr. 1986. New bivalves from the Datang Stage, Lower Carboniferous, Guangdong Province, China. Journal of Paleontology 60 (3): 669-679.