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
Stomata are found on the leaves of _I. hystrix_, _I. Boryana_[135],
and in other species which are not permanently submerged. Both
microsporangia and megasporangia are characterised by their large
size and by the presence of trabeculae or strands of sterile tissue
(fig. 133, E, H, _t_) completely bridging across the sporangial
cavity or extending as irregular ingrowths among the spore-producing
tissue. Similar sterile bands, though less abundant and smaller, are
occasionally met with in the still larger sporangia of _Lepidostrobus_;
these may be regarded as a further development of the prominent pad
of cells which projects into the sporangial cavity in recent species
of _Lycopodium_ (fig. 126, D, _p_). The sporangia are attached by a
very short stalk to the base of a large depression in the leaf-base
below the ligule, from the pit of which they are separated by a ridge
of tissue known as the saddle, and from this ridge a veil of tissue
(the velum) extends as a roof over the sporangial chamber (fig. 133,
E, _v_). In most species there is a large gap between the lower edge
of the velum and that of the sporangial pit, but in _I. hystrix_
this protective membrane is separated from the base of the leaf by a
narrow opening, the resemblance of which to the micropyle of an ovule
suggested to one of the older botanists the employment of the same
term[136]. Mr T. G. Hill[137] has called attention to the presence
of mucilage canals in the base of the sporophylls of _I. hystrix_,
which he compares with the strands of tissue known as the parichnos
accompanying the leaf-traces of _Lepidodendron_ and _Sigillaria_ in
the outer cortex of the stem. The transverse section shown in fig.
133, H and I, shows two of these mucilage canals in an early stage
of development; a strand of parenchymatous elements distinguished
by their partially disorganised condition and more deeply stained
membranes (fig. 133, I) runs through the spandrels of the sporophyll
tissue close to the upper surface. There is a close resemblance
between the structure of these partially formed mucilage-canals and
the tissue which has been called the secretory zone in Lepidodendron
stems. Fig. 133, H, also shows a large microsporangium with prominent
trabeculae (_t_) lying below the velum. A longitudinal section (fig.
133, E) through a sporophyll-base presents an appearance comparable
with that of an Araucarian cone-scale with its integumented ovule
and micropyle. The megaspores are characterised by ridges, spines,
and other surface-ornamentation[138]. Though usually unbranched, the
perennial stem of _Isoetes_ (fig. 132) has in rare cases been found to
exhibit dichotomous branching, a feature, as Solms-Laubach[139] points
out, consistent with a Lycopodiaceous affinity. The apex is situated
at the base of a funnel-shaped depression. The stem is always grooved;
in some species two and in others three deep furrows extend from the
base up the sides of the short and thick axis towards the leaves: from
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