Celatheca

{{Short description|Extinct genus of Devonian plants}}

{{Use dmy dates|cs1-dates=ly|date=June 2020}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Geological range/linked|Early Devonian}}

| image =

| image_caption =

| taxon = Celatheca

| authority = S.G.Hao & Gensel (1995)

| display_parents = 2

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision ={{Species list

|C. beckii|S.G.Hao & Gensel (1995)

}}

}}

Celatheca is a genus of extinct plants of the Early Devonian (Pragian, around {{Period span/brief|Pragian|-1}}). Fossils were first found in the Posongchong Formation of eastern Yunnan, China. The leafless stems (axes) divided dichotomously but unequally so that one branch formed more of a 'main' stem and the other a side branch system. Side branches which did not bear spore-forming organs or sporangia divided two or three times further, ending in tips which curled back on themselves. Side branches bearing sporangia ultimately divided to produce a group of four sporangia, each with an outer leaf-like bract which folded around the sporangium. Celatheca resembles the Australian fossil Yarravia.