"It was a bonnie morning 410 million years ago in what are now the Rhynie chert fossil beds in Scotland. The mists had begun to lift and swirl over the landscape, where hot springs burbled, lichen papered over rocks, and worms slithered as only worms can. Here, almost all life stayed close to the ground. The second-tallest organism at the time, a plant called , grew to a few centimeters at most."
"This made Prototaxites, an organism with some species that towered above these landscapes at heights of up to 26 feet, an actual behemoth. Prototaxites was a strange sort of life form. It had no branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, nor a discernable root system. Instead, it resembled a beautiful sausage sprouting from the ground. In this way Prototaxites was ahead of its time: undeniably phallic in a time long before phalluses existed."
Around 410 million years ago, landscapes like the Rhynie chert hosted low-growing plants, hot springs, lichens, and burrowing worms. Prototaxites grew to heights up to 26 feet, dwarfing contemporaneous plants that reached only a few centimeters. The organism lacked branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, and a discernible root system, presenting as a large unbranched, tubular structure. Interpretations of its nature have varied widely, including tree and fungal affinities. William Edmond Logan discovered the first fossil in 1843, and J.W. Dawson later identified it as a conifer trunk based on spirally marked cells resembling yews, naming it Prototaxites, "first yew."
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