-40%

Detailed classic coal age Lepidodendron scale tree & rarer Stigmaria species !!!

$ 24.28

Availability: 100 in stock
  • Refund will be given as: Money back or replacement (buyer's choice)
  • All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
  • Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
  • Item must be returned within: 30 Days
  • pre dinosaur fossil plant: Carboniferous Coal age
  • Restocking Fee: No
  • Condition: New
  • Modified Item: No

    Description

    My specimens are genuine and will be delivered with a Certificate of authenticity, age and origin and scientific works copy described this species !
    I combine shipping costs.
    Each item is different, so please wait with payment after purchase -
    I will send You a combine invoice.
    Usually, it will be cost of shipping the heaviest item.
    Specimen:
    Beautiful, detailed specimen of
    Lepidodendron aculeatum
    STERNBERG &
    Stigmaria stellata
    GOEPPERT
    scale tree lycopod bark and roots !
    Locality:
    All detailed and accurate data will be provided with the specimen
    Stratigraphy:
    Upper Carboniferous  – Mississippian -  Namurian A
    Age:
    ca. 326 Mya
    Matrix dimensions:
    ca. 18,5 x 7,5 x 3,5 cm ( scale-bar - white square on pictures is 1,0 x 1,0 cm )
    Description:
    Beautiful, detailed specimen of
    Lepidodendron aculeatum
    STERNBERG &
    Stigmaria stellata
    GOEPPERT
    scale tree lycopod bark and roots !
    Lepidodendron
    (also known as the "Scale tree") is an extinct genus of primitive, vascular, arborescent (tree-like) plant related to the Lycopsids (club mosses). It was part of the coal forest flora. They sometimes reached heights of over 30 metres (100 ft), and the trunks were often over 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter, and thrived during the Carboniferous period. Sometimes called "giant club mosses", this is actually not correct as they are actually closer to quillworts than to club mosses. The closely packed diamond-shaped leaf scars left on the trunk and stems as the plant grew provide some of the most interesting and common fossils in Carboniferous shales and accompanying coal deposits. These fossils look much like tire tracks or alligator skin.
    The scars, or leaf cushions, were composed of green photosynthetic tissue, evidenced by the cuticle covering and being dotted with stomata, microscopic pores through which carbon dioxide from the air diffuses into plants. Likewise, the trunks of
    Lepidodendron
    would have been green, unlike modern trees which have scaly, non-photosynthetic brown or gray bark.
    Lepidodendron
    has been likened to a giant herb. The trunks produced very little, if any, wood. Most structural support came from a thick, bark-like region. This region remained around the trunk as a rigid layer that did not flake off like that of most modern trees. As the tree grew, the leaf cushions expanded to accommodate the increasing width of the trunk.
    The branches of this plant ended in cone-like structures.
    Lepidodendron
    did not produce seeds like many modern plants. Instead, it reproduced by means of spores. It is estimated that these plants grew rapidly and lived 10–15 years. Some species were probably monocarpic, meaning they reproduced only once toward the end of their life cycle.
    Lepidodendron
    likely lived in the wettest parts of the coal swamps that existed during the Carboniferous period. They grew in dense stands, likely having as many as 1000 to 2000 giant clubmosses per hectare. This would have been possible because they did not branch until fully grown, and would have spent much of their lives as unbranched poles. In its juvenile stages, the trunk was supported by grass-like leaves that grew straight out of the trunk. By the Mesozoic era, the giant clubmosses had died out and were replaced by smaller clubmosses, probably due to competition from the emerging woody gymnosperms and other plants.
    Lepidodendron
    is one of the more common plant fossils found in Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous) age rocks. They are closely related to other extinct genera,
    Sigillaria
    and
    Lepidendropsis
    .
    In the 19th Century, due to the reptilian look of the diamond-shaped leaf scar pattern, petrified trunks of
    Lepidodendron
    were exhibited at fairgrounds as giant fossil lizards or snakes. The name
    Lepidodendron
    comes from the Greek
    lepido
    , scale, and
    dendron
    , tree.
    Until now well understood are three species:
    Stigmaria ficoides
    ,
    Stigmaria rugulosa
    and
    Stigmaria reticulata
    .
    Stigmaria are a type of branching tree root fossil found in
    Carboniferous
    rocks. They were the roots of
    coal forest lycopsid
    trees such as
    Sigillaria
    and
    Lepidodendron
    .
    Stigmaria
    is the generic name given to fossil
    root
    casts
    of various tree species of the Pennsylvanian Period, regardless of the form genera and species. The round nodes on the surface of
    stigmaria
    are scars where ribbon-like rootlets were once attached and arranged radially about
    stigmaria
    like the bristles of a bottle brush.
    A flattened vascular tube is frequently visible on the end of
    stigmaria
    , located just off center of the axis of the root and running longitudinally down its length, which provided fluids  and perhaps nutrients to the main tree in life.
    Systematic:
    Division:          Tracheophyta (Lycoposida)
    Class:              Lycopodinae
    Order:              Lycophodiales
    Family:            Lepidodendraceae
    Genus:
    Lepidodendron / Stigmaria
    Species:
    Lepidodendron aculeatum
    STERNBERG /
    Stigmaria stellata
    GOEPPERT