Voltziales

{{Short description|Extinct order of conifers}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Late Carboniferous|Late Cretaceous}}

| image = Voltzia heterophylla.JPG

| image_caption = Voltzia heterophylla

| taxon = Voltziales

| authority = Andreanszky 1954

| subdivision_ranks = Families

| subdivision = See text

}}

Voltziales is an extinct order of conifers. The group contains the ancestral lineages from which modern conifer groups emerged. Voltzialean conifers are divided into two informal groups, the primitive "walchian conifers" like Walchia, where the ovuliferous cone is composed of radial shoots and the more advanced "voltzian voltziales", also known as "transitional conifers" where the cone is composed of fertile scales with sessile seeds, like those of modern conifers.{{cite journal |last1=Rothwell |first1=Gar W. |last2=Mapes |first2=Gene |last3=Hernandez-Castillo |first3=Genaro R. |date=August 2005 |title=Hanskerpia gen. nov. and Phylogenetic Relationships among the Most Ancient Conifers (Voltziales) |journal=Taxon |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=733–750 |doi=10.2307/25065430 |jstor=25065430|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Van Waveren |first=Isabel M. |date=2019-03-25 |title=A morphometric analysis of Tobleria bicuspis, a Voltziales seed cone from the early Permian Jambi palaeoflora, Sumatra (Indonesia) |journal=PhytoKeys |issue=119 |pages=67–95 |doi=10.3897/phytokeys.119.29555 |issn=1314-2003 |pmc=6443619 |pmid=31015778 |doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Looy |first1=Cindy V. |last2=Duijnstee |first2=Ivo A. P. |date=March 2020 |title=Voltzian Conifers of the South Ash Pasture Flora (Guadalupian, Texas): Johniphyllum multinerve gen. et sp. nov., Pseudovoltzia sapflorensis sp. nov., and Wantus acaulis gen. et sp. nov. |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/706853 |journal=International Journal of Plant Sciences |language=en |volume=181 |issue=3 |pages=363–385 |doi=10.1086/706853 |s2cid=208592093 |issn=1058-5893}} Walchian conifers generally grew as small trees. The earliest walchian conifers are known from the Middle Pennsylvanian (Moscovian). The youngest walchian conifers are known from the Late Permian. The earliest "voltzian voltziales" are known from the late Early Permian (Kungurian). Modern conifer lineages emerged from voltzialean ancestors from the Late Permian to Jurassic.{{Cite journal|last1=Leslie|first1=Andrew B.|last2=Beaulieu|first2=Jeremy|last3=Holman|first3=Garth|last4=Campbell|first4=Christopher S.|last5=Mei|first5=Wenbin|last6=Raubeson|first6=Linda R.|last7=Mathews|first7=Sarah|date=September 2018|title=An overview of extant conifer evolution from the perspective of the fossil record|journal=American Journal of Botany|language=en|volume=105|issue=9|pages=1531–1544|doi=10.1002/ajb2.1143|pmid=30157290|doi-access=free}} Voltzialean conifers outside modern groups such as Krassilovia/Podozamites survived into the Cretaceous, before becoming extinct.{{Cite journal|last1=Herrera|first1=Fabiany|last2=Shi|first2=Gongle|last3=Mays|first3=Chris|last4=Ichinnorov|first4=Niiden|last5=Takahashi|first5=Masamichi|last6=Bevitt|first6=Joseph J.|last7=Herendeen|first7=Patrick S.|last8=Crane|first8=Peter R.|date=2020-01-15|editor-last=Peppe|editor-first=Daniel|title=Reconstructing Krassilovia mongolica supports recognition of a new and unusual group of Mesozoic conifers|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=15|issue=1|pages=e0226779|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0226779|issn=1932-6203|pmc=6961850|pmid=31940374|bibcode=2020PLoSO..1526779H|doi-access=free}} The genus Voltzia was named in honour of the French geologist Philippe Louis Voltz.