Fossil plants, Vol. 2 : $b A text-book for students of botany and geologySeward, A. C. (Albert Charles)
Science
Fossil plants, Vol. 2 : $b A text-book for students of botany and geology
Seward, A. C. (Albert Charles)
Paleobotany
The large tree shown in transverse section in fig. 181, A, has
lost its leaf-cushions; the bark, as seen in the lower part of the
photograph, presents a fissured appearance like that with which we
are familiar on an old Oak or Elm stem. A radial longitudinal section
through the phelloderm revealed the existence of a crushed leaf-trace
passing outwards in an approximately horizontal course accompanied
by a strand of parenchymatous tissue[361] having the characteristic
structure of a parichnos. It is probable that the surface of this
partially decorticated stem differed in appearance from that of an old
_Sigillaria_ (cf. fig. 198) in the much smaller and less conspicuous
parichnos strands.
In addition to the large stems of _L. Wünschianum_ from Arran and
Dalmeny numerous examples of smaller axes from the former locality are
represented in the Williamson collection (British Museum). Some of
the twigs are characterised by a solid stele (protostele) giving off
numerous leaf-traces accompanied by short spirally thickened tracheids
like those which occur at the outer edge of the primary xylem in
the larger stem: these extend into the leaf where they are arranged
round the vascular bundle like the transfusion tracheids[362] in many
recent conifers. The surface of these smaller shoots bears large
leaf-cushions which are seen in longitudinal section to have the form
characteristic of _Lepidophloios_. It is worthy of note that a section
of a bifurcating axis of this species from the Calciferous Sandstone of
Craigleith (British Museum Collection[363]), although its diameter is
19 × 14 cm., shows no signs of secondary wood. This late appearance of
secondary xylem and other anatomical features suggest the possibility
of the specific identity of _L. Wünschianum_ and _L. Harcourtii_[364].
In 1871 Binney[365] described a specimen of a heterosporous cone,
_Lepidostrobus Wünschianus_, from Arran exhibiting the ordinary
features of lepidodendroid strobili; this was probably borne by
_Lepidodendron Wünschianum_.
7. _Lepidodendron macrophyllum_ (Williamson). Fig. 186, C.
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