The Geological History of PlantsDawson, John William, Sir
Science
The Geological History of Plants
Dawson, John William, Sir
Paleobotany
These are arboreal Lycopods having linear one-nerved leaves, stems
branching dichotomously, and with ovate or rhombic leaf-bases bearing
rhombic leaf-scars, often very prominent. The fruit is in scaly
strobiles, terminal or lateral, and there are usually, if not always,
macrospores and microspores in each strobile. The young branches and
stems have a central pith, a cylinder of scalariform tubes sending out
ascending bundles to the leaves through a thick cellular and fibrous
inner bark, and externally a dense cortex confluent with or consisting of
the leaf-bases. Older stems have a second or outer layer of scalariform
fibres in wedges with medullary rays, and strengthening the stem by a
true exogenous growth, much as in the Diploxylon type of Sigiliaria. The
development of this exogenous cylinder is different in amount and rate
in different species.[CX] This different development of the exogenous
axis is accompanied with appropriate external appearances in the stems,
and the changes which take place in their markings. These are of three
kinds. In some species the areoles, at first close together, become, in
the process of the expansion of the stem, separated by intervening spaces
of bark in a perfectly regular manner; so that in old stems, while widely
separated, they still retain their arrangement, while in young stems they
are quite close to one another. This is the case in _L. corrugatum_. In
other species the leaf-scars or bases increase in size in the old stems,
still retaining their forms and their contiguity to each other. This
is the case in _L. undulatum_, and generally in those _Lepidodendra_
which have large leaf-bases. In these species the continued vitality
of the bark is shown by the occasional production of lateral strobiles
on large branches, in the manner of the modern red pine of America. In
other species the areoles neither increase in size nor become regularly
separated by growth of the intervening bark; but in old stems the bark
splits into deep furrows, between which may be seen portions of bark
still retaining the areoles in their original dimensions and arrangement.
This is the case with _L. Pictoense_. This cracking of the bark no doubt
occurs in very old trunks of the first two types, but not at all to the
same extent.
[CX] See "Memoirs of Dr. Williamson," in "Philosophical Transactions,"
for ample details.
As a type of Lepidodendron, I may describe one of the oldest
Carboniferous species characteristic of the Lower Carboniferous in
America, and corresponding to _L. Veltheimianum_ of Europe.
Lepidodendron Corrugatum, Dawson.--(See Fig. 43, _supra_.) "Quarterly
Journal of Geological Society," vol. xv.; "Acadian Geology," page 451.
_Habit of Growth._--Somewhat slender, with long branches and long,
slender leaves having a tendency to become horizontal or drooping.
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