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Lepidodendron is an extinct genus of primitive lycopodian vascular plants belonging the order Lepidodendrales.It is well preserved and common in the fossil record. Like other Lepidodendrales, species of Lepidodendron grew as large-tree-like plants in wetland coal forest environments.
Many older drawings of Lepidodendron incorrectly illustrate leaf bases extending to the ground in older trees. At higher, younger levels of the tree, the branches have fewer rows of smaller leaves. In these sections less secondary xylem and periderm are produced.
It was discovered in 1887 and contains the fossilised stumps and the stigmarian system of eleven extinct Lepidodendron lycopsids, [1] which are sometimes described as "giant club mosses" but are more closely related to quillworts. The Fossil Grove is managed as a museum and has been a popular tourist attraction since it opened for public ...
During the Carboniferous, tree-like plants (such as Lepidodendron, Sigillaria, and other extinct genera of the order Lepidodendrales) formed huge forests that dominated the landscape. Unlike modern trees, leaves grew out of the entire surface of the trunk and branches, but fell off as the plant grew, leaving only a small cluster of leaves at ...
Sigillaria was a tree-like plant reaching a height up to 30 m (98 ft), [1] and lycopsids were capable to reach a height of up to 50 m (160 ft). [4] These lycopsids had a tall, single or occasionally forked trunk [2] that lacked wood. Support came from a layer of closely packed leaf bases just below the surface of the trunk, while the center was ...
However, the composition of the forests changed from a lepidodendron-dominated forest to one of predominantly tree ferns and seed ferns. The Carboniferous rainforest collapse ( CRC ) was a minor extinction event that occurred around 305 million years ago in the Carboniferous period. [ 1 ]
Other species specialized in re-settling land which had been briefly deforested by flooding: Synchysidendron and Lepidodendron in mineral-soil areas and Lepidophloios in peat areas. Cordaites may have favored drier areas of the swamp. In the later part of this period tree ferns tended to take over from lycopsid trees.
The swamp-loving lycopod trees of the Carboniferous, such as Lepidodendron and Sigillaria, were replaced by the more advanced conifers, which were better adapted to the changing climatic conditions. Lycopods and swamp forests still dominated the South China continent because it was an isolated continent and it sat near or at the equator.