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Early fern. Representative evidence-type visual; not the exact specimen.
OBJECT DOSSIER · SMITHSONIAN OPEN ACCESS

Early fern — Rhacophyton incertum

SAGE Museum Deep Time scientific dossier
Date / Period
Late Devonian · Upper Devonian.
Object Type
stems and leaves
Medium
representative_scientific_visual
About This Object

Geologic period: Late Devonian

Age: Upper Devonian.

Feeding: Photosynthetic plant.

Body plan: Branching axes bearing bipinnate non-laminate fronds and specialized fertile structures.

Evidence: Stems, vegetative fronds, fertile structures, spores and woody tissues have been preserved in Rhacophyton fossils.

Why it matters: Rhacophyton helps document increasing complexity in land-plant architecture before Carboniferous forests.

Plain Language Identity: A complex Late Devonian vascular plant historically described as fern-like.

What You Are Looking At: Branching stems and frond-like vegetative structures.

Ecosystem: Late Devonian terrestrial vegetation.

Preservation: Compression fossils and, in some material, petrified internal tissues.

Open Questions: Its evolutionary placement has been interpreted in different ways; it should not simply be treated as a modern fern.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/article-abstract/61/384/37/2883044

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title and scientific name matched; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Rhacophyton incertum

Evidence / representation: Representative evidence-type visual; not the exact specimen.

Why It Is In This SAGE Exhibit

Representative evidence-type visual; not the exact specimen.

Life Conquers the Land: Forests, Fishes and the First Four-Legged Worlds.

Provenance
Smithsonian Deep Time source scene: Early Life in the Ocean
Exhibition History
Included in the SAGE Museum Dinosaurs & Deep Time staging exhibit.
Subjects & Themes
Rhacophyton incertum Late Devonian stems and leaves Early Life in the Ocean Life Conquers the Land
ORIGINAL COLLECTION SOURCE

This object page stays inside SAGE Museum. The Smithsonian link below is provided only as the original scholarly collection record. It opens separately.