Wattieza was a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of prehistoric trees that existed in the mid-Devonian

Devonian

The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...

 that belong to the cladoxylopsid

Cladoxylopsid

The cladoxylopsids are a group of plants known only as fossils that are thought to be ancestors of ferns and horsetails.They had a central trunk, from the top of which several lateral branches were attached. Fossils of these plants originate in the Middle Devonian to Early Carboniferous periods ,...

s, close relatives of the modern fern

Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...

s and horsetails. The 2005 (publicly revealed in 2007) discovery in Schoharie County, New York

Schoharie County, New York

As of the census of 2000, there were 31,582 people, 11,991 households and 8,177 families residing in the county. The population density was 51 people per square mile . There were 15,915 housing units at an average density of 26 per square mile...

, of fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

s from the Middle Devonian (about 385 million years ago) united the crown of Wattieza to a root and trunk known since 1870, the fossilized grove of "Gilboa stumps" discovered at Gilboa, New York

Gilboa, New York

Gilboa is a town in Schoharie County, New York, United States. The population was 1,215 at the 2000 census.The Town of Gilboa is in the south part of the county and is southwest of Albany.- History :The town was first settled around 1760....

, which had been previously described as Eospermatopteris, though the complete plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 remained unknown.