Lepidodendron

Lepidodendron, from Ancient Greek λεπίς (lepís), meaning "scale", and δένδρον (déndron), meaning "tree", is an extinct genus of primitive lycopodian vascular plants belonging to the order Lepidodendrales. It is well preserved and common in the fossil record. Like other Lepidodendrales, species of Lepidodendron grew as large-tree-like plants in wetland coal forest environments. They sometimes reached heights of 50 metres, and the trunks were often over 1 m in diameter. They are often known as "scale trees", due to their bark having been covered in diamond-shaped leaf-bases, from which leaves grew during earlier stages of growth. However, they are correctly defined as arborescent lycophytes. They thrived during the Carboniferous Period, and persisted until the end of the Permian around 252 million years ago. Sometimes erroneously called "giant club mosses", the genus was actually more closely related to modern quillworts than to modern club mosses. In the form classification system used in paleobotany, Lepidodendron is both used for the whole plant as well as specifically the stems and leaves.

Lepidodendron

Falconaumanni · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
LepidodendraceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 155 million years on record.

The record covers at least 382.31 Mya to 227.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 387.95 Mya to 205.7 Mya.

Devonian — about 7 of 313 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 197 of 313 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 108 of 313 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 313 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 313 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 1 of 313 occurrencesLate Triassic392–385 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences385–379 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences379–373 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences373–366 Mya — about 2 occurrences366–360 Mya — about 2 occurrences360–354 Mya — about 14 occurrences354–347 Mya — about 16 occurrences347–341 Mya — about 16 occurrences341–335 Mya — about 23 occurrences335–328 Mya — about 16 occurrences328–322 Mya — about 18 occurrences322–316 Mya — about 33 occurrences316–309 Mya — about 28 occurrences309–303 Mya — about 23 occurrences303–297 Mya — about 20 occurrences297–291 Mya — about 26 occurrences291–284 Mya — about 22 occurrences284–278 Mya — about 13 occurrences278–272 Mya — about 9 occurrences272–265 Mya — about 8 occurrences265–259 Mya — about 8 occurrences259–253 Mya — about 13 occurrences253–246 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences227–221 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences221–215 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences215–208 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences208–202 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences382.31 Mya227.3 Mya392 Mya202 Mya

313 occurrences of Lepidodendron on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

313 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

85 formations

Taiyuan — 39.90°N, 111.80°ETaiyuan — 37.50°N, 105.20°ETaiyuan — 38.20°N, 100.20°ETaiyuan — 41.80°N, 126.50°ETaiyuan — 35.50°N, 110.40°ETaiyuan — 37.50°N, 114.60°ETaiyuan — 40.00°N, 116.20°ETaiyuan — 39.60°N, 111.00°ETaiyuan — 34.70°N, 116.60°ETaiyuan — 38.80°N, 99.60°ETaiyuan — 41.20°N, 123.80°ETaiyuan — 41.60°N, 119.70°ETaiyuan — 38.80°N, 105.60°ETaiyuan — 36.80°N, 118.10°ETaiyuan — 39.40°N, 111.00°EPottsville — 33.82°N, 87.42°WPottsville — 33.00°N, 87.00°WPottsville — 33.81°N, 87.17°WShanxi — 38.00°N, 114.00°EShanxi — 41.80°N, 126.50°EShanxi — 38.80°N, 105.60°EShanxi — 39.40°N, 121.80°EShanxi — 40.70°N, 120.80°EShanxi — 38.80°N, 99.60°EShanxi — 38.50°N, 102.20°EShanxi — 35.70°N, 106.60°EShanxi — 39.40°N, 111.00°EBrazil — 39.13°N, 87.02°WCarbondale — 38.18°N, 87.33°WCarbondale — 41.00°N, 88.00°WNew Albany Shale — 37.58°N, 84.80°WNew Albany Shale — 37.38°N, 84.80°WNew Albany Shale — 38.28°N, 85.82°WVandever Shale & Rockcastle Sandstone — 34.86°N, 85.43°WLongtan — 30.80°N, 119.40°ELongtan — 27.00°N, 113.30°ELongtan — 31.30°N, 120.60°ELongtan — 26.30°N, 105.90°EQixia — 30.50°N, 111.20°EQixia — 29.40°N, 110.20°ERoaring Creek Coal — 39.00°N, 87.00°WRoaring Creek Coal — 39.00°N, 85.00°WManning Canyon Shale — 40.28°N, 112.15°WStellarton — 45.67°N, 62.70°WPoole Sandstone — 18.00°S, 124.00°EXuanwei — 26.30°N, 104.20°EPettycur Volcanics — 56.05°N, 3.17°WSurprise Canyon — 35.93°N, 113.29°WPetersburg — 38.10°N, 87.18°WBreathitt — 37.08°N, 83.70°WCrab Orchard Mountains — 34.00°N, 85.00°WTar Springs — 37.45°N, 88.87°WTar Springs — 37.07°N, 87.82°WAlacaagzi — 41.45°N, 39.82°ESearston Beds — 47.83°N, 59.32°WSearston Beds — 48.19°N, 58.82°WToba — 31.30°N, 97.70°ETongzhiyan — 24.20°N, 115.80°ETongzhiyan — 23.40°N, 113.20°E

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The named rock units Lepidodendron has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 61 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 112 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lepidodendron and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Lepidodendron and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

732 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 194 sites for Lepidodendron, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

98 references

Each of the 313 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 86 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Lepidodendron

Credit
Falconaumanni
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itLepidodendraceae through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Sternberg 1820