Pennsylvanian Plant Hunt in Pennsylvania

[historianmichael]

Last weekend I took advantage of the warm weather to visit my favorite exposure of the Llewellyn Formation in Eastern Pennsylvania and collect some Late Pennsylvanian plants. I had not been to this site in some time but I was inspired to visit it again by some recent Llewellyn Formation fern finds by @frankh8147. I had the site to myself except for the noise of nearby ATVs and BMX bikes whose riders were also seeking to take advantage of the great weather. Despite temperatures in the fifties, there was still snow on the ground. I spent about 4 hours digging out and splitting large blocks of shale. What I like about this site is that you don't get the mash of dozens of plants on top of each other. Although the dark color shale makes it sometimes hard to see the plants, when you find a clearly visible example, the plant tends to be well preserved. As I am learning, this site seems to also have a wonderful diversity of Late Pennsylvanian flora. Overall the trip was a great success until the end of the day. As I was attempting to carry down my collecting bin with all of my finds, I tripped and crashed the bin into a large rock. While I survived the fall with only a couple scraps on my hand, the bin was totally destroyed and so too were most of my better finds. 

 

A view of the site

 

 

Calamites appears to be the dominant flora at the site. Here is a large Calamites cistii trunk with my hand for scale

 

 

Unfortunately the block was full of cracks and did not hold up, but I did find these cool smaller pith casts inside it

 

 

I also found a really large block with several whorls of Asterophyllites equisetiformis. Unfortunately the piece was at the bottom of my bin and was totally obliterated during the fall. Here is all that I was able to save

 

 

The first of several new finds for me were this partial and this immature Calamites cone (Calamostachys sp.)!

  

 

 

Some of my favorite finds at this site are the remnants of lycophytes. I am yet to find an outer bark impression, but I have found several pieces showing the subepidermal surface. Here is an example of Sigillaria tessellata

 

 

Cyperites bicarinatus

 

 

 

 

Lycopodites meekii

 

 

 

Lepidostrobophyllum lanceolatus

 

 

 

 

Lepidodendron sp. Branches

 

 

 

I thought this Sphenophyllum longifolium whorl was pretty cool due to its size and shape of the leaves

 

 

Here are some of my better fern finds

 

I was really excited to find my first ever Mariopteris decipiens with a partial Lepidodendron sp. branch on the piece too

 

 

Cyathocarpus arborea

 

This Cyathocarpus arborea would have been one of my best fern finds ever, but it too fell victim to my fall and did not survive. At least I have a photo!

 

 

 

Laveineopteris rarinervis 

 

 

Neuropteris flexuosa

 

 

I am still working on identifications for the rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last, but certainly not least, are a couple of mystery fossils.

 

This plant appears to be vine-like with alternating leaves on either side. I have seen nothing like it in the literature

. 

 

This plant is almost whisker-like, with thin radiating leaves that do not appear to connect to any central point

 

 

 

I hope to make it back out to this site soon and hopefully continue finding new flora to add to the collection. Fingers crossed that I don't fall again!

Edited March 31, 2021 by historianmichael

[Yoda]

@historianmichael

 

Some really nice finds there 

[Fossildude19]

Great report and some very nice finds as well, Michael.  

[fossilcrazee]

Beautiful finds!

[frankh8147]

Very nice! We can talk about on one of our upcoming trips but looking at your first picture and based on other aspects of your trip report - we may both have the same site!

[Jeffrey P]

Congratulations Michael. Great report and finds. Too bad about the pieces that were demolished in your fall, but those that survived are cool! We'll have to go out there sometime together. 

[Petalodus12]

10 hours ago, historianmichael said:

Last weekend I took advantage of the warm weather to visit my favorite exposure of the Llewellyn Formation in Eastern Pennsylvania and collect some Late Pennsylvanian plants. I had not been to this site in some time but I was inspired to visit it again by some recent Llewellyn Formation fern finds by @frankh8147. I had the site to myself except for the noise of nearby ATVs and BMX bikes whose riders were also seeking to take advantage of the great weather. Despite temperatures in the fifties, there was still snow on the ground. I spent about 4 hours digging out and splitting large blocks of shale. What I like about this site is that you don't get the mash of dozens of plants on top of each other. Although the dark color shale makes it sometimes hard to see the plants, when you find a clearly visible example, the plant tends to be well preserved. As I am learning, this site seems to also have a wonderful diversity of Late Pennsylvanian flora. Overall the trip was a great success until the end of the day. As I was attempting to carry down my collecting bin with all of my finds, I tripped and crashed the bin into a large rock. While I survived the fall with only a couple scraps on my hand, the bin was totally destroyed and so too were most of my better finds. 

 

A view of the site

 

 

Calamites appears to be the dominant flora at the site. Here is a large Calamites cistii trunk with my hand for scale

 

 

Unfortunately the block was full of cracks and did not hold up, but I did find these cool smaller pith casts inside it

 

 

I also found a really large block with several whorls of Asterophyllites equisetiformis. Unfortunately the piece was at the bottom of my bin and was totally obliterated during the fall. Here is all that I was able to save

 

 

The first of several new finds for me were this partial and this immature Calamites cone (Calamostachys sp.)!

  

 

 

Some of my favorite finds at this site are the remnants of lycophytes. I am yet to find an outer bark impression, but I have found several pieces showing the subepidermal surface. Here is an example of Sigillaria tessellata

 

 

Cyperites bicarinatus

 

 

 

 

Lycopodites meekii

 

 

 

Lepidostrobophyllum lanceolatus

 

 

 

 

Lepidodendron sp. Branches

 

 

 

I thought this Sphenophyllum whorl was pretty cool due to its size and shape of the leaves

 

 

Here are some of my better fern finds

 

I was really excited to find my first ever Mariopteris decipiens with a partial Lepidodendron sp. branch on the piece too

 

 

Cyathocarpus arborea

 

This Cyathocarpus arborea would have been one of my best fern finds ever, but it too fell victim to my fall and did not survive. At least I have a photo!

 

 

 

Laveineopteris rarinervis 

 

 

I am still working on identifications for the rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last, but certainly not least, are a couple of mystery fossils.

 

This plant appears to be vine-like with alternating leaves on either side. I have seen nothing like it in the literature

. 

 

This plant is almost whisker-like, with thin radiating leaves that do not appear to connect to any central point

 

 

 

I hope to make it back out to this site soon and hopefully continue finding new flora to add to the collection. Fingers crossed that I don't fall again!

Nice finds, but sorry about the fall. It looks like the plant you found that has radiating leaves is an example of Cyclopteris fimbriata. It is a basal leaf of Neuropteris. I have a good example of one posted here. Hope this helps

[historianmichael]

31 minutes ago, Petalodus12 said:

Nice finds, but sorry about the fall. It looks like the plant you found that has radiating leaves is an example of Cyclopteris fimbriata. It is a basal leaf of Neuropteris. I have a good example of one posted here. Hope this helps

Thank you! Luckily I was not seriously hurt and I was able to salvage some of my other finds. I agree that that one looks very similar to the tips of Cyclopteris fimbriata. It is just so strange that the central part of the leaf did not preserve on two different specimens

[FossilNerd]

Nice finds and report Mike. Sorry to hear that you lost a lot of your good finds in the tumble, but at least you came out ok. 

[Petalodus12]

3 hours ago, historianmichael said:

Thank you! Luckily I was not seriously hurt and I was able to salvage some of my other finds. I agree that that one looks very similar to the tips of Cyclopteris fimbriata. It is just so strange that the central part of the leaf did not preserve on two different specimens

I've observed that as well on other, more poorly preserved specimens. I could always be wrong on the ID though

[erose]

Really nice collection. Love the variety. So sorry you had a crash. Been there myself a few too many times. Lost a few great fossils myself. We all need to work on our talus surfing skills.

[deutscheben]

Those are some really lovely plants!