The generic name _Lepidophloios_ was first used by Sternberg[254] for a Carboniferous species which he had previously described as _Lepidodendron laricinum_. In 1845 Corda[255] instituted the name _Lomatophloios_ for specimens possessing the same external characters as those for which Sternberg had chosen the name _Lepidophloios_. The leaf-cushions of _Lepidophloios_ differ from those of the true _Lepidodendron_ in their relatively greater lateral extension (cf. fig. 146, A and C), in their imbricate arrangement and in bearing the leaf, or leaf-scar, at the summit. In some species referred to _Lepidophloios_ the cushions are however vertically elongated and in this respect similar to those of _Lepidodendron_: an example of this type is afforded by _Lepidophloios Dessorti_ a French species described by Zeiller[256]. In younger branches the cushions may be directed upwards having the leaf-scar at the top; but in the majority of specimens the cushions are deflexed as in figs. 146, D; 160, A. The shoot of _Lycopodium dichotomum_ shown in fig. 121, B, with the leaves in the reversed position bears a close resemblance to a branch of _Lepidophloios_. The photograph of _Lepidophloios scoticus_ Kidst.[257] reproduced in fig. 160, A, illustrates the dichotomous branching of the stem and the form of the cushions with the leaf-scars pointing downwards. In the fertile branch of the same species shown in fig. 160, B, the leaf-scars face upwards. In most species the cushions are simply convex without a median keel, but in some cases a median ridge divides the cushion into two cheeks as in the genus _Lepidodendron_. The leaf-scar bears three small scars, the larger median scar marking the position of the leaf-trace, while the lateral scars are formed by the two arms of the parichnos: in some examples of deflexed cushions, though not in all, a ligular pit occurs on the cushion a short distance above the leaf-scar.