On the Anatomy of Lepidophloios laricinus, Sternb

Abstract

A Specimen of Lepidophloios laricinus , found in one of the coal balls of Lancashire, shows the internal structure. The species is new, and is of the ordinary lepidodendroid type, but is remarkable for the great size aad strength of the corona and the leaf-traces. Lepidophloios acadianus , Dawson, which is identical with L . laricinus , appears to differ iu its internal structure, in having still stronger protoxyleul-points and leaf-traces. Lematophloios crassicaule , Corda, which is L . acerosus , L. & H., appears to resemble greatly tile Lancashire specimen of L . laricinus in its structure, and is quite distinct from the specimen of the same form described by Cash & Lomax. Lepidodendron fuliginosuem , Will., a structural species, appears to include a specimen the external structure of which corresponds with Lepidophloios acerosus , Lepidodendron obovatum , L . aculeatum , and Sigillaria discophora . Under these circumstances, it, is proposed to take no account of the impression-species in considering the synonymy of the structural specimens, and vice versa . When the exterior of a structural specimeu is actually known, it may be referred to by the name of the structural species, with that of the impression-species added in brackets.

Escaping the voluntary constraints of “tyre‐track” taxonomy

“…Happily, in the case of Lepidodendron and many other fossil plants, less frequent fossils exist whose internal tissues also have been preserved in anatomical detail through permineralisation. Two centuries of painstaking work have eventually provided complete conceptual reconstructions of at least 16 whole-plant species of Carboniferous rhizomorphic lycopsids that demonstrated the feasibility of extending into the anatomical realm genus names originally based on adpression fossils (e.g., Carruthers, 1869;Binney, 1871Binney, , 1872Williamson, 1887;Cash & Lomax, 1890;Hovelacque, 1892;Seward & Hill, 1900;Weiss & Lomax, 1905;Scott, 1906;Seward, 1906;Calder, 1934a;Graham, 1935;Arnold, 1940;Pannell, 1942;Wilson & Tillapaugh, 1942;Evers, 1951;Andrews & Murdy, 1958;DiMichele, 1979DiMichele, , 1981DiMichele, , 1983, including Sigillaria (Binney, 1875;Kidston, 1905Kidston, , 1907Arber & Thomas, 1908;Calder, 1934b;Delevoryas, 1957;Lemoigne, 1960;D'Antonio & al., 2020), Lepidophloios (Seward & Hill, 1900;Watson, 1909;Walton, 1935;Andrews & Murdy, 1958;Mapes, 1966;DiMichele, 1979;Galtier & Scott, 1986) and Lepidodendron (Seward, 1906;Arber & Thomas, 1908;…”