Franhueberia is an Early Devonian (mid- to late Emsian) plant that exhibits all the characters of secondary growth: radially aligned tracheid fi les, multiplicative divisions, and presence of axial and radial tissue components. Franhueberia is known only by its xylem—the extraxylary tissues of the axis described here were probably separated from the xylem cylinder during transport and deposition. Taphonomic factors are also responsible for the mode of preservation of the rays. Rays are more readily distorted than tracheids because of their parenchymatous nature and thin cell walls. The latter were degraded prior to fossilization, which provided planes of weakness along which the axis tissues were fractured during lateral compression of the specimen. The narrowness of rays in cross sections nevertheless suggests that they were uniseriate. Anatomically, the rays of Franhueberia appear to be similar to conifer rays, such as those of extant Pinus (compare Fig. 5C, D ); although the latter have undergone no preservational deformation, they show the same thin, undulating walls punctuated by constrictions induced by periclinal tracheid walls