Sigillaria is a genus of extinct, spore-bearing, arborescent (tree-like) plants. It was a lycopodiophyte, and is related to the lycopsids, or club-mosses,[1] but even more closely to quillworts, as was its associate Lepidodendron.
| Sigillaria
Temporal range: Carboniferous to Permian | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Lycopodiophyta |
| Class: | Isoetopsida. |
| Order: | Lepidodendrales |
| Family: | Sigillariaceae |
| Genus: | Sigillaria |
Fossil records[]
This genus is known in the fossil records from the Late Carboniferous period [2] but dwindled to extinction in the early Permian period (age range: from 383.7 to 254.0 million years ago).[1] Fossils are found in United States, Canada, China, Korea, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.[3]
Species[]
Species within this genus include:[4]
- S.alveolaris Brongniart (1828)
- S.barbata Weiss (1887)
- S.bicostata Weiss (1887)
- S.boblayi Brongniart (1828)
- S.brardii Brongniart (1828)
- S.cancriformis Weiss (1887)
- S.cristata Sauveur (1848)
- S.cumulata Weiss (1887)
- S.davreuxii Brongniart (1828)
- S.densifolia Brongniart (1836)
- S.elegans Sternberg (1825)
- S.elongata Brongniart (1824)
- S.fossorum Weiss (1887)
- S.hexagona Brongniart (1828)
- S.loricata Weiss (1887)
- S.mammiliaris Brongniart (1824)
- S.menardi Brongniart (1828)
- S.micaudi (Zeller (1886-1888)
- S.monostigma Lesquereux (1866)
- S.orbicularis Brongniart (1828)
- S.ovata Sauveur (1848)
- S.pachyderma Brongniart (1828)
- S.principes Weiss (1881)
- S.reticulata Lesquereux (1860)
- S.rugosa Brongniart (1828)
- S.saulii Brongniart (1836)
- S.schotheimiana Brongniart (1836)
- S.scutellata Brongniart (1822)
- S.sillimanni Brongniart (1828)
- S.tesselata Brongniart (1828)
- S.transversalis Brongniart (1828)
- S.trigona Sternberg (1826)
- S.voltzii Brongniart (1828)
Description[]
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Sigillaria was a tree-like plant reaching a height up to 30 meters,[2] with a tall, single or occasionally forked trunk[1] that lacked wood. Support came from a layer of closely packed leaf bases just below the surface of the trunk, while the center was filled with pith. The long, thin grasslike leaves[5] were attached directly to the stem and grew [2] in a spiral along the trunk.[1] The old leaf bases expanded as the trunk grew in width, and left a diamond-shaped pattern, which is evident in fossils. These leaf scars were arranged in vertical rows.[2] The trunk had photosynthetic tissue on the surface, meaning that it was probably green.
The trunk was topped with a plume of long, grass-like, microphyllous leaves,[5]so that the plant looked somewhat like a tall, forked bottle brush. The plant bore its spores (not seeds) in cone-like structures [5] attached to the stem.[1][6]
Sigillaria, like many ancient lycopods, had a relatively short life cycle - growing rapidly and reaching maturity in a few years. Some researchers have suggested that Sigillaria was monocarpic, meaning that it died after reproduction, though this is not proven.[5] It was associated with Lepidodendron, the scale tree, in the Carboniferous coal swamps.[2]
Gallery[]
