Article: A re-evaluation of the plants Tingia and Tingiostachya from the Permian of Taiyuan, China

The two characteristic Cathaysian Carboniferous-Permian genera Tingia and Tingiostachya are reviewed and rediagnosed in the light of new specimens from Taiyuan, northern China. Epidermal features of Tingia include bands of longitudinally arranged stomata. Tingiostachya is shown to have spirally arranged sporophylls with each bearing one spheroidal sporangium, rather than the previously described whorls of four sporophylls and tetralocular sporangia. Tingiostachya tetralocularis and Tingia elegans are rediagnosed. The morphological and taxonomic relationships between the two genera are discussed, and it is proposed that a new family Tingiostachyaceae includes Tingiostachya and the satellite taxon Tingia.