Asteroxylon
genus of extinct plants
Asteroxylon ("star-shaped wood") is an extinct genus of vascular plants of the Division Lycopodiophyta known from anatomically preserved specimens described from the famous Early Devonian Rhynie chert and Windyfield chert in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Asteroxylon is considered a basal member of the Lycopsida.
Description
Asteroxylon is a genus of terrestrial vascular plant which flourished in the Early Devonian period.
This plant consisted of aerial, isotomously and anisotomously branching stems that reached 12 mm in diameter and 40 cm in length. The possibly procumbent aerial stems arose from a leaf-less rhizome which bore smaller-diameter, positively geotropic root-like branches. The rhizomes, which represent an independent origin of roots, reached a depth of up to 20 cm below the surface. A 407 million-year-old fossil from the Rhynie chert shows the roots formed through a modified version of a mechanism called “dichotomous branching”, where one of the branches that formed from a shoot-like axis buried into the soil. This method of root formation no longer exists. The xylem or conducting tissue at the center of the aerial stems is distinctly star-shaped in cross-section and has been considered an early actinostele or an "Asteroxylon-type" protostele. The tracheids are of the primitive annular or helical type (so-called G-type).
The public source identifies “Asteroxylon” as genus of extinct plants. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Asteroxylon, genus and extinct.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Asteroxylon”, the useful work is to connect “genus of extinct plants” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q135190. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.
Three-step research path
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- Expand the search: follow Asteroxylon primary sources, Asteroxylon archive and Asteroxylon research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Asteroxylon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.