New Members hhingohh Posted September 24, 2013 New Members Share Posted September 24, 2013 .-leafs of sigillaria mostly referred to are so called Cyperites. the relating fossils are only few centimeters long. BUT the images of reconstructed plants suggest a size of nearly 1/2 meter. i never found a solution to this enigma nor a fossil showing an entire leaf of this size. 1.Is there anybody who may refer to a proof? 2.Furthermore the plants are often represented as dichotomous. Does anbody has an image of a fossil which makes evident this suggestion? . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paleoflor Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Good questions! To many of them, I have no answer at the moment. Hopefully, others here can provide more insight. Anyway, I will try to find more information on this rather interesting subject. Below the little knowledge and information I currently have is that besides Cyperites (which basically is a morphogenus for smaller, linear leaves) there are several other genera that refer to sigillarian leaves, such as Sigillariophyllum and Sigillariopsis (much longer, grass-like leaves having two parallel veins). Also there are several reconstructions of Sigillaria, but I will need to go through my books... More follows shortly! 1 Searching for green in the dark grey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BNN Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 (edited) The Mazon Creek Fossil Flora (Jack Wittry) states Cyperites can grow to nearly 1 meter. There is an example in the book of a Field Museum specimen that is 40 cm. Edited September 24, 2013 by BNN 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paleoflor Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 "The leaves of one species, Sigillariophyllum lepidodendrifolium, are reported as having reached a length of 1 m" C.A. Arnold (1947) An Introduction to Paleobotany, First Edition, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. (New York and London), p. 116. Unfortunately, no reference is given. 1 Searching for green in the dark grey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paleoflor Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 (edited) This is a nasty little problem. I keep running into references that are not available to me either because our library has no subscription, or simply because they are too old (no digital version to be found). I cannot find imagery of the specimens that led to the version with a bifurcation in the crown, though in writing several authors (of course without stating references) do underscore it exists. Most likely, your best chance to find any photographs of this material is in the large works, like that of Lindley and Hutton or that of Crookall, to name but a few. I could get access to these via our library, but currently have no time to spend hours on my hobby there. The earliest reference I could find, clearly stating the reconstruction of the Sigillaria-tree contained a bifurcation is the book by Max Hirmer (1927). It should be noted, other (some much later) works also depict Sigillaria without this dichotomy. Not only in the works figured below, but also very recent ones, such as that by Pfefferkorn et al. (2009). Left hand side: Bertrand 1926, right hand side: Moret 1943 Edited September 24, 2013 by paleoflor 1 Searching for green in the dark grey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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