More Pennsylvanian Plants of PA

[historianmichael]

A few weeks ago @Jeffrey P and I met up in Eastern Pennsylvania to collect plant material in the Late Pennsylvanian Llewellyn Formation. We started our day at Centralia and then made our way to another site. I have visited Centralia a few times now but Jeff had never been there before. Our hope was to find Jeff a nice Trigonocarpus seed but unfortunately our efforts did not come up with anything. The pickings at Centralia were rather slim. However, we did see in-situ a large segment of Stigmaria ficoides root with rootlets.

 

 

I ended up only keeping a few finds. The first is this Sphenopteris sp.

 

I also kept this plate with several Lepidodendron branches

 

 

After about an hour we made our way to the second site and spent the rest of the day there. I love to visit this site because I seem to keep finding something new on every visit. This time around I decided to break down a huge block and ended up with a lot of exciting finds.

 

Lepidostrobophyllum lanceolatum

 

 

 

Cross section of a Calamites cistii trunk showing the cell structure

 

Asterophyllites longifolius

 

Asterophyllites sp. Terminal Shoots
 

 

Asterophyllites sp. (including this really big Calamites branch)

 

 

Sphenophyllum emarginatum

 

 

 

 

Cyclopteris fimbriata(?)
  

 

Cyclopteris sp.

 

I have found other seed ferns at the site before, but Laveineopteris rarinervis is definitely the most common fern. It also seems to be the only fern of which you will find blades.

 

 

 

While splitting the large block down, I ended up breaking on a plane that exposed multiple Laveineopteris rarinervis blades. Unfortunately the largest blade was cut off by the end of the rock. Perhaps against my better judgment I decided to carry the huge plate out. Even after cutting off the excess rock at home it is still very heavy.

 

 

 

And just because it would not be a hunt in the Llewellyn Formation without me finding something that I totally don't know what it is, here is a mystery plant.

Edited July 29, 2021 by historianmichael

[Tidgy's Dad]

Lovely. 

So many different species. 

[Neanderthal Shaman]

Wow, what a haul!

[Titan]

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

[Wrangellian]

Nice haul for sure! Nice trimming job too, I'm glad you don't butcher them too drastically like some collectors/sellers do.

[minnbuckeye]

Great Finds. Makes my collection of Pennsylvanian fossils look insignificant.

[historianmichael]

11 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Nice haul for sure! Nice trimming job too, I'm glad you don't butcher them too drastically like some collectors/sellers do.

Thank you! Luckily the material at the main site tends to be contain isolated plants rather than many on top of each other, so it is easy to cut out the main find on each piece. I have a couple of larger pieces, but for the simple reason of space limitations, most of my finds are smaller cut outs.

 

2 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

Great Finds. Makes my collection of Pennsylvanian fossils look insignificant.

I have been really fortunate to have grown up within driving distance of the Llewellyn Formation in Eastern Pennsylvania. My only regret is not visiting St. Clair more than the one time I did before it closed. Luckily I have been able to build a little collection over the years from other sites. I am excited to one day put them all in a display case and really take inventory of what I have.

[Vae70]

Nice haul! Might I ask the exact location you went to collect? (Feel free to PM) Last time I went was a year ago but the location I explored held a large amount of trigonocarpus seeds preserved well in plates or as stand alone 3D specimens. I'm planning a trip up again sometime next month so, more than happy to point Jeffrey in the same direction

 

Ex:

[toddmeyer]

Any chance you would share the second site in a PM.  I have not found a good site since they closed St. Clair

[Opuntia]

Wow! 

Beautiful haul