Tortilicaulis is a moss-like plant[2] known from fossils recovered from southern Britain, spanning the Silurian-Devonian boundary (around 430 to 390 million years ago).

[4] Whilst it is generally accepted that Tortilicaulis was moss-like, it has not yet been recovered in a sufficiently good state of preservation to allow the detailed study necessary to firmly assign it to a taxonomic group.

Fossils consist of an elongate apical sporangium (spore-forming organ), which may be branched, with spiralled walls attached to an undivided stalk that is also twisted.

[3][5] Unusually for plants of its time, spores of Tortilicaulis were covered all over with small granules.

[6][7] The initial suspicions of its describer, Dianne Edwards, were that it was a bryophyte,[1] and comparisons have been made with several groups.