Rare Aspidaria carboniferous lycopod - fossil plant

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Specimen: Aspidaria sp. - Upper carboni ferous Lycopod fossil Locality: Poland Upper Silesia Coal Basin Stratigraphy: Upper carboniferous - Namurian B - "Siodlowe" Beds Age: ca 325 Mya matrix dimensions: 15,0 x 8,0 cm plant dimensions: 15 ,0 x 8,0 cm Aspidaria is an extinct genus of primitive, vascular, arborescent (tree-like) plant related to the Lycopsids (club mosses). It was part of the coal forest flora. They sometimes reached heights of over 30 metres (100 ft), and the trunks were often over 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter, and thrived during the Carboniferous period. Sometimes called "giant club mosses", this is actually not correct as they are actually closer to quillworts than to club mosses. The closely packed diamond-shaped leaf scars left on the trunk and stems as the plant grew provide some of the most interesting and common fossils in Carboniferous shales and accompanying coal deposits. These fossils look much like tire tracks or alligator skin. The scars, or leaf cushions, were composed of green photosynthetic tissue, evidenced by the cuticle covering and being dotted with stomata, microscopic pores through which carbon dioxide from the air diffuses into plants. Likewise, the trunks of Lepidodendron would have been green, unlike modern trees which have scaly, non-photosynthetic brown or gray bark. Aspidaria has been likened to a giant herb. The trunks produced very little, if any, wood. Most structural support came from a thick, bark-like region. This region remained around the trunk as a rigid layer that did not flake off like that of most modern trees. As the tree grew, the leaf cushions expanded to accommodate the increasing width of the trunk. The branches of this plant ended in cone-like structures. Aspidaria did not produce seeds like many modern plants. Instead, it reproduced by means of spores. It is estimated that these plants grew rapidly and lived 10–15 years. Some species were probably monocarpic, meaning they reproduced only once toward the end of their life cycle. Aspidaria like sister group Lepidodendrons likely lived in the wettest parts of the coal swamps that existed during the Carboniferous period. They grew in dense stands, likely having as many as 1000 to 2000 giant clubmosses per hectare. This would have been possible because they did not branch until fully grown, and would have spent much of their lives as unbranched poles. In its juvenile stages, the trunk was supported by grass-like leaves that grew straight out of the trunk. By the Mesozoic era, the giant clubmosses had died out and were replaced by smaller clubmosses, probably due to competition from the emerging woody gymnosperms and other plants. Lepidodendron is one of the more common plant fossils found in Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous) age rocks. They are closely related to other extinct genera, Sigillaria , Aspidaria , Knoria and Lepidendropsis . In the 19th Century, due to the reptilian look of the diamond-shaped leaf scar pattern, petrified trunks of Lepidodendron and other lycopods were exhibited at fairgrounds as giant fossil lizards or snakes. Systematic: Division: Tracheophyta (Lycoposida) Class: Lycopodinae Order: Lycophodiales Family: Lepidodendraceae Genus: Aspidaria sp. Shipping & handling for this item will be: To Europe: $16 US To USA, Canada, Africa, South, Central America, Asia: $ 17 US To Australia & Pacific Ocean: $25 US YOU CAN COMBINE SHIPPING! Shipping by registered, insured air post. Payment We accept PayPal. Please pay within 24 hours after your Buy It Now purchase or end of auction. If payment cannot be made within 24 hours, We reserve the right to re-list this item if payment is not made within 4 business days and no email notification is sent. Non-Paying bidders will be Reported. Note: Seller will work out payment arrangments as long as it is reasonable... read more

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