Eifelian Stage

Plants getting taller and deeper

Eifelian age (388-393 Ma) is the first in the Middle Devonian epoch, which occurs after the Emsian, and before the Givetian

Above: reconstructions of Calamophyton

Fossil assemblages during this time are poor
Most of Earth was cool and dry, but a narrow band around the equator was tropical
- Plant fossils from the Eifelian are usually from this equatorial area
Land plants spread inland for the first time
Evidence for large, deeply penetrating root systems extending up to 1 meter into the substrate (Meyer-Berthaud et al. 1999, Driese et al. 1997, Retallack 1997)
The protolepidodendrids are appearing larger on the landscape
The dispersed spore Acinosporites macrospinosus (Richardson 1965) is found in the Middle Devonian (Wellman 2022)
- It has a typical lycopsid spore wall ultrastructure
- A. macrospinosus is probably an incipient megaspore from among the first groups of lycopsids to have experimented with a heterosporous reproductive strategy.
- The apical prominence of A. macrospinosus is a forerunner of the pronounced apical prominences (gulas and massas) of later megaspores
The cladoxylopsids are also getting larger with complicated anatomy, found in Calamophyton