The Geological History of PlantsDawson, John William, Sir
Science
The Geological History of Plants
Dawson, John William, Sir
Paleobotany
Calamites Undulatus, Brongniart.--This species is stated by Brongniart
to be distinguished from the _C. Suckovii_, the characteristic Calamite
of the middle coal-formation, by its undulated ribs marked with peculiar
cellular reticulation. He suggests that it may be merely a variety of
_C. Suckovii_, an opinion in which Schimper coincides; but since I have
received large additional collections from Mr. Elder, containing not
only the stems and branches, but also the leaves and rhizomes, I am
constrained to regard it as a distinct though closely allied species.
The rhizomata are slender, being from one to two inches in diameter,
and perfectly flattened. They are beautifully covered with a cellular
reticulation on the thin bark, and show occasional round areoles marking
the points of exit of the rootlets. I have long been familiar with
irregular flattened stems thus reticulate, but have only recently been
able to connect them with this species of Calamite.
The main stems present a very thin carbonaceous bark reticulated like
the rhizomes. They have flat, broad ribs separated by deep and narrow
furrows, and undulated in a remarkable manner even when the stems are
flattened. This undulation is, however, perhaps an indication of vertical
pressure while the plant was living, as it seems to have had an unusually
thin and feeble cortical layer, and the undulations are apparently best
developed in the lower part of the stem. At the nodes the ribs are often
narrowed and gathered together, especially in the vicinity of the rounded
radiating marks which appear to indicate the points of insertion of
the branches. At the top of each rib we have the usual rounded areole,
probably marking the insertion of a primary branchlet.
The branches have slender ribs and distant nodes, from which spring
secondary branchlet s in whorls, these bearing in turn small whorls of
acicular leaflets much curved upward, and which are apparently round in
cross section and delicately striate. They are much shorter than the
leaves of _Calamites Suckovii_, and are less dense and less curved than
those of _C. nodosus_, which I believe to be the two most closely allied
species.
Lesquereux notices this species as characteristic of the lower part of
the Carboniferous in Arkansas.
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