Lepidodendron Reconstruction
Lepidodendron is an extinct genus of primitive, vascular, tree-like plants, also known as scale trees, related to the quillworts and lycopsids (club mosses). They were part of the coal forest flora. They sometimes reached heights of over 30 metres (100 feet), and the trunks were often over 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter. They thrived during the Carboniferous Period (about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya (million years ago) and were found until the Late Triassic, about 205 Mya) before going extinct. Sometimes erroneously called "giant club mosses", the genus was actually more closely related to modern quillworts than to modern club mosses.
Description[]
Lepidodendron species were comparable in size to modern trees. The plants had tapering trunks as wide as 2 m (6.6 ft) at their base that rose to about 100 ft (30 m), arising from an underground system of horizontally spreading branches that were covered with many rootlets. Though the height of the trees make the plants similar to modern trees, the constant dichotomy of branches created a habit that contrasts with that of modern trees. At the ends of branches were oval-shaped cones that had a similar shape to modern cones of a spruce or fir.