Well-preserved plant compression from the Middle Devonian Tiaomachian Formation of Hunan, the central area of South China allow establishing a new species of protolepidodendrid, morphologically Colpodexylon-like lycopsid, Tiaomaphyton fui gen. et sp. nov. The new plant is small-sized and consists of three-tipped leaves with a tiny heel and longitudinal dehiscent sporangia. Tiaomaphyton is the first unequivocal protolepidodendrid lycopsid from the Middle Devonian of central Hunan, which palaeogeographically belongs to the Cathaysia Block, one of the two sub-regions of the whole South China Plate. The study gives a better understanding of the Middle Devonian flora of Cathaysia block and has palaeogeographic implications to the South China Plate. A floristic distinction between the Cathaysia and Yangtze blocks is suggested and it is probably caused by the special palaeogeographic pattern of the South China Plate. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.