Lepidodendron Branch Reconstruction

[RomanK]

What live lepidodendron branch looked like? Not sure but it seems to me that close to this pic

I used for reconstruction the following specimens

What do you think about?

[Terry Dactyll]

RomanK..... Great diagram..... It resembles the one you found with the leaves still on very much....I have a Scots pine in my garden and sections of that trimmed to the right length look identical in some respects to some of the lepidodendron twigs I have fossilised to....

[Fossildude19]

Roman,

That certainly looks like the fossils you had in your recent previous posts!

Looks pretty good, to me!

Thanks for showing us!

[RomanK]

Thank you Tim and Steve, will prepare next illustration soon.

[flyguy784]

I love it. It's so hard to visualize what the ancient forests must have looked like. Try as we might, we have no frame of reference. Perhaps we'll be treated to a re created landscape. That should only take you a year. I hope you don't mind, I save all your photos/illustrations and print them for my note books.

Thanks for all your effort.

John

Edited May 25, 2010 by flyguy784

[Plantguy]

Hi Roman, that looks fun to draw with! Nice reconstruction! Do you have some type of illustration software? I actually do pen and ink drawings and have drawn some plants so I am very curious.

Thought you should also know that I think you have actually drawn an Araucaria like that in my yard...As Steve mentioned I too have something---a present day Norfolk Island Pine---one of the Araucaria sp. I believe it is A. heterophylla. It has lots of lower branching unlike the Lepidodendrons but the leaf attachments and leaves remind me of the Lepidodendron. Here are two shots for you to compare against. Note the striking similarity to your drawing, especially the 1st picture.

I think if you have the ability to change your illustration just a bit and make the leaf cushions more triangular in shape and have no space between the leaf cushions I think you'll be right on the money.

Again, thanks for sharing the reconstruction. I like what you are doing!

Regards, Chris

[RomanK]

I love it. It's so hard to visualize what the ancient forests must have looked like. Try as we might, we have no frame of reference. Perhaps we'll be treated to a re created landscape. That should only take you a year. I hope you don't mind, I save all your photos/illustrations and print them for my note books.

Thanks for all your effort.

John

Hi John, obviously I do not mind, more lepidodendron picture with leaf cushions

[RomanK]

Hi Roman, that looks fun to draw with! Nice reconstruction! Do you have some type of illustration software? I actually do pen and ink drawings and have drawn some plants so I am very curious.

Thought you should also know that I think you have actually drawn an Araucaria like that in my yard...As Steve mentioned I too have something---a present day Norfolk Island Pine---one of the Araucaria sp. I believe it is A. heterophylla. It has lots of lower branching unlike the Lepidodendrons but the leaf attachments and leaves remind me of the Lepidodendron. Here are two shots for you to compare against. Note the striking similarity to your drawing, especially the 1st picture.

I think if you have the ability to change your illustration just a bit and make the leaf cushions more triangular in shape and have no space between the leaf cushions I think you'll be right on the money.

Again, thanks for sharing the reconstruction. I like what you are doing!

Regards, Chris

Hi Chris, thanks for the Araucaria pictures, the similarity is very high. It's a big question about leaf cushion shape and space between lc, look on my specimens

but you're right the top and bottom might be sharper.

More lepidodendron branches with attached leaves

and Lepodophloios branch

Roman

[RomanK]

This is Lepidodendron aculeatum I found on Geocraft website (http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/Lepidoacul3.html) with leaf cushions and leaf remains

[Plantguy]

This is Lepidodendron aculeatum I found on Geocraft website (http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/Lepidoacul3.html) with leaf cushions and leaf remains

Hey Roman, thanks for the additional pictures of the leaf cushions. I love seeing all of the examples you and Bruno have. Yep, I see your point about the shape and position. With a couple hundred species there is lots of variation to choose from. I was also reading recently about how the cushions can grow in size due to an expanding trunk.

Keep up the great posts! Regards, Chris

[RomanK]

Hey Roman, thanks for the additional pictures of the leaf cushions. I love seeing all of the examples you and Bruno have. Yep, I see your point about the shape and position. With a couple hundred species there is lots of variation to choose from. I was also reading recently about how the cushions can grow in size due to an expanding trunk.

Keep up the great posts! Regards, Chris

Hi Chris, thank you, could you send me the mentioned informstion about how the cushions can grow in size?

[RomanK]

Improved version

[Fossildude19]

Roman,

I like it. - I see what Chris was talking about now.

I think you have improved it!

Looks great!

[RomanK]

Roman,

I like it. - I see what Chris was talking about now.

I think you have improved it!

Looks great!

Thank you Tim, such work helps me to understand fossil details better. This is an attempt to show the lepidodendron leaf fragment

[Plantguy]

Hi Chris, thank you, could you send me the mentioned informstion about how the cushions can grow in size?

Hey Roman, I'll have to see if I can find the source again for you. Not sure I can as I remember being on the web for hours looking at plant/lycopod/lepidodendron stuff and was going to all kinds of sites and reading abstracts/articles from various professional papers. It was something I guess I should have bookmarked. I want to say it was just some general info posted on a web site as I think I would have remembered an author, but I spend so much time browsing I only rarely bookmark/save the URL.

Your improved version looks very good. You make creating/editing look easy! Very nice work! Where's Bruno our resident Lepidodendron expert? Get ready for more modifications!

Regards, Chrhis

[RomanK]

Hey Roman, I'll have to see if I can find the source again for you. Not sure I can as I remember being on the web for hours looking at plant/lycopod/lepidodendron stuff and was going to all kinds of sites and reading abstracts/articles from various professional papers. It was something I guess I should have bookmarked. I want to say it was just some general info posted on a web site as I think I would have remembered an author, but I spend so much time browsing I only rarely bookmark/save the URL.

Your improved version looks very good. You make creating/editing look easy! Very nice work! Where's Bruno our resident Lepidodendron expert? Get ready for more modifications!

Regards, Chrhis

Thank you Chris, my main questions now I find answer on why L. lost the leaves not the leaf cushions, how soft was the outer bark layer (under leaf cushion), how the stem (and bark) increased (enlarged) bearing in mind L. didn't lose the bark layers contrary to modern trees.

[Plantguy]

Hey Roman, I'm still looking for the URL. While searching today I found one dissertation talking about changes in leaf cushions amongst other things. I'm sure Bruno could probably provide specific articles/papers by experts in the field that will provide answers to the questions you have. I'm leary and would defer to his and others expertise in providing info since I am haphazardly finding things on the web.

For now, here's just one example found today:

THE PALEOECOLOGY AND GROWTH HABITS OF ARBORESCENT LYCOPODS FROM AN IN SITU SWAMP FOREST OF MIDDLE PENNSYLVANIAN AGE (BERNICE BASIN, SULLIVAN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA) (TAPHONOMY)

CHRISTOPHER WNUK, University of Pennsylvania

http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI8417375/

Christopher's abstract includes the following section:

" Logs of Lepidodendron rimosum and L. dichotomum dominate this assemblage. In these two species, juvenile trunks are obconical, because the growth of secondary tissues did not keep pace with the increasing diameter of the apical meristem. During this stage, the cushion's length and width increased with trunk height. After the meristem matured, the trunk continued growing upward in an unbranched state, and the cushions produced at this time were of constant dimensions. In both species, unfavorable environmental conditions affected cushion size. Lepidodendron rimosum accomodated growth of the secondary tissues by expanding the inter-area between cushions. Lepidodendron dichotomum lacked this potential and shed its cushions more quickly. Cushion length decreased drastically in Lepidodendron rimosum just before branching, but not in L. dichotomum. The former branched by dichotomizing apices and was determinate in growth, the latter produced determinate lateral branches by monopodial branchings but was indeterminate as a whole"...

All for now. I'll keep looking.

Regards, Chris

[RomanK]

Hey Roman, I'm still looking for the URL. While searching today I found one dissertation talking about changes in leaf cushions amongst other things. I'm sure Bruno could probably provide specific articles/papers by experts in the field that will provide answers to the questions you have. I'm leary and would defer to his and others expertise in providing info since I am haphazardly finding things on the web.

For now, here's just one example found today:

THE PALEOECOLOGY AND GROWTH HABITS OF ARBORESCENT LYCOPODS FROM AN IN SITU SWAMP FOREST OF MIDDLE PENNSYLVANIAN AGE (BERNICE BASIN, SULLIVAN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA) (TAPHONOMY)

CHRISTOPHER WNUK, University of Pennsylvania

http://repository.up...ons/AAI8417375/

Christopher's abstract includes the following section:

" Logs of Lepidodendron rimosum and L. dichotomum dominate this assemblage. In these two species, juvenile trunks are obconical, because the growth of secondary tissues did not keep pace with the increasing diameter of the apical meristem. During this stage, the cushion's length and width increased with trunk height. After the meristem matured, the trunk continued growing upward in an unbranched state, and the cushions produced at this time were of constant dimensions. In both species, unfavorable environmental conditions affected cushion size. Lepidodendron rimosum accomodated growth of the secondary tissues by expanding the inter-area between cushions. Lepidodendron dichotomum lacked this potential and shed its cushions more quickly. Cushion length decreased drastically in Lepidodendron rimosum just before branching, but not in L. dichotomum. The former branched by dichotomizing apices and was determinate in growth, the latter produced determinate lateral branches by monopodial branchings but was indeterminate as a whole"...

All for now. I'll keep looking.

Regards, Chris

Thank you very much Chris, I'm starting look thru.