Mazon Creek Flora

[Tidgy's Dad]

Smashing thread!

What a lot of lovely plants.

[connorp]

Despite having collected thousands of concretions over the past couple years, one taxa I have not come across is Pecopteris squamosa. It is in the top 40 or so most common flora taxa from Mazon Creek as a whole, so it seems that perhaps it is just not present or very rare at the sites I frequent for whatever reason. I reached out to @Nimravis to see if he might have obtained a specimen of P. squamosa in the amazing collecting he recently purchased, and he was kind enough to part with the beauty. This specimen clearly shows the wide and thorny rachis characteristic of P. squamosa.

 

[Mark Kmiecik]

2 hours ago, connorp said:

Despite having collected thousands of concretions over the past couple years, one taxa I have not come across is Pecopteris squamosa. It is in the top 40 or so most common flora taxa from Mazon Creek as a whole, so it seems that perhaps it is just not present or very rare at the sites I frequent for whatever reason. I reached out to @Nimravis to see if he might have obtained a specimen of P. squamosa in the amazing collecting he recently purchased, and he was kind enough to part with the beauty. This specimen clearly shows the wide and thorny rachis characteristic of P. squamosa.

 

Nice one. I've only collected one in my 20 years of collecting. And I spent almost no time looking for fauna. I'm a member of PA (plants anonymous). It is listed as uncommon in Jack Wittry's A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flore of Mazon Creek, so if you've been collecting Pit 11 and areas around there, your chances of finding one were slim to none.

[connorp]

38 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

 

Nice one. I've only collected one in my 20 years of collecting. And I spent almost no time looking for fauna. I'm a member of PA (plants anonymous). It is listed as uncommon in Jack Wittry's A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flore of Mazon Creek, so if you've been collecting Pit 11 and areas around there, your chances of finding one were slim to none.

Most of my plants come from the river. This specimen did come from Pit 11 though.

[connorp]

Here's a pretty textbook example of the cone bract Lepidostrobophyllum hastatus, showing well the characteristic diverging auricles at the base of the lamina.

 

[connorp]

The venation on this fern is not very clear, but the somewhat distant ultimate pinnae and the enlarged basal pinnules suggest Pecopteris oreopteridia.

[connorp]

Crenulopteris acadica is the most common fern in the Mazon Creek flora, but fertile examples seem to be quite rare. This fertile pinna opened is the only one I've found out of probably over a thousand sterile specimens.

 

 

Close of of the pinnules

Edited January 14, 2023 by connorp

[connorp]

A very beautiful penultimate pinnae of the seed fern Laveineopteris rarinervis that opened today.

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by connorp

[flipper559]

That is beautiful Connor ! !   Congratulations !!

 

Rock On !!

 

Phil

[connorp]

Here's a perfect Lepidostrobophyllum lanceolatus cone bract from this week. This is my best example of L. l var. constrictum, characterized by small auricles at the base of the lamina.

 

[connorp]

On the top is a single pinnule of Crossotheca sagittata, which is the name for the fertile foliage of Pecopteris fontainei, which is pictured on the bottom. Despite the generic name, this form is believed to be a seed fern.

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by connorp

[connorp]

Here's a pretty extensive Annularia sphenophylloides I just finished prepping.

 

[deutscheben]

That's a really nice one! 

[connorp]

Here's a decent sized Crenulopteris acadica plate that opened last week. These pinna are not mature, as the pinnules have not developed the characteristic ten-lobed sides. However, the crenulopterid venation is well marked.

[connorp]

Here's a fun new find - a few microconchids on a whorl of Sphenophyllum emarginatum. Microconchids can show up on most any plant, but they are found predominantly on pieces of bark.

 

[connorp]

Some more microconchids, this time on a Lepistrobophyllum lanceolatus cone bract.

 

[connorp]

A cute little Sphenophyllum emarginatum from Pit 11.

 

[connorp]

Here are small but well preserved examples of two common ferns.

 

Crenulopteris subcrenulata

 

 

 

Laveineopteris rarinervis

[connorp]

A pretty heavily mineralized Annularia sphenophylloides that opened this week.

 

[connorp]

The seed Cordaicarpus

[connorp]

A really nice Neuropteris vermicularis found open last year

 

 

A complete Lepidostrobus ornatus cone

[connorp]

Just finished up prep on this stunning Crenulopteris subcrenulata. It is probably the softest Mazon Creek concretion I've found, but the preservation is exquisite. This is a great example of the apex of the penultimate pinna, and well demonstrates the transition in pinnule shapes and venation as the ultimate pinna mature.

[deutscheben]

That’s an outstanding specimen, and the accent of colors is quite eye-catching as well.

[connorp]

Here's a pretty neat specimen that opened today. Unlike most Mazon Creek ferns, both the sterile and fertile forms of Diplazites unita are relatively common. This pinna displays both fertile pinnules towards the apex and sterile pinnules near the base.

[connorp]

A small but well preserved portion of a Crenulopteris subcrenulata pinna.