Vol. 3, Special Issue 3, Part I (2017)

Equisetum is a small and morphologically distinct genus of 15 extant species that are the sole surviving representatives of the class Sphenopsida with a rich fossil record. The permineralized pteridophytic strobilus cut in transeverse plane of Equisetaceae was collected from the late cretaceous cherts of Singpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. The serial peel sections were taken through its exposed plane and shows excellent preservation with cellular details and taken for study. Present strobilus is bilaterally symmetrical of about 1.8 mm X 1 mm in size with thick and multi-layered sporangial wall of approximately 100 µm. It shows six chambers of sporangia containing few microspores. Microspores are in a group containing 7 to 15 microspores. It is spherical, 20-40 µm in diameter. Microspore wall with two layers, a relatively smooth, dark inner layer and much thicker spongy layer outside it. A distinct triradiate mark observed from apical surface of microspore. As it show close similarities with family Equisetaceae, it is kept under the genus Equisetum and named as Equisetitis sahnii gen. et sp. nov.