''Sigillaria'' is a genus of extinct, spore-bearing, arborescent (tree-like) plants. It was a lycopodiophyte, and is related to the lycopsids, or club-mosses, but even more closely to

quillwort ''Isoetes'', commonly known as the quillworts, is the only extant genus of plants in the family Isoetaceae, which is in the class of lycopods. There are currently 192 recognized species, with a cosmopolitan distribution but with the individual s ...

s, as was its associate ''

Lepidodendron ''Lepidodendron'' is an extinct genus of primitive vascular plants belonging to the family Lepidodendraceae, part of a group of Lycopodiopsida known as scale trees or arborescent lycophytes, related to quillworts and lycopsids (club mosses). Th ...

''.

Fossil records

This genus is known in the

fossil record A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s from as early as the

Middle Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, w ...

or the Late

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carboniferou ...

period Hans' Paleobotany Pages - The clubmoss tree Sigillaria
/ref> but dwindled to extinction in the

Early Permian 01 or '01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * 01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * ''01'' (Son of Dave album), 2000 * ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''O1'' (Hiroyuki Sawan ...

period (age range: from 383.7 to 254.0 million years ago).Encyclopædia Britannica
/ref> Fossils are found in Great Britain, United States, Canada, China, Korea, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Species

Species within this genus include: *''S.alveolaris'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.barbata'' Weiss (1887) *''S.bicostata'' Weiss (1887) *''S.boblayi'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.brardii'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.cancriformis'' Weiss (1887) *''S.cristata'' Sauveur (1848) *''S.cumulata'' Weiss (1887) *''S.davreuxii'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.densifolia'' Brongniart (1836) *''S.elegans'' Sternberg (1825) *''S.elongata'' Brongniart (1824) *''S.fossorum'' Weiss (1887) *''S.hexagona'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.loricata'' Weiss (1887) *''S.mammiliaris'' Brongniart (1824) *''S.menardi'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.micaudi'' (Zeller (1886-1888) *''S.monostigma'' Lesquereux (1866) *''S.orbicularis'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.ovata'' Sauveur (1848) *''S.pachyderma'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.principes'' Weiss (1881) *''S.reticulata'' Lesquereux (1860) *''S.rugosa'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.saulii'' Brongniart (1836) *''S.schotheimiana'' Brongniart (1836) *''S.scutellata'' Brongniart (1822) *''S.sillimanni'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.tesselata'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.transversalis'' Brongniart (1828) *''S.trigona'' Sternberg (1826) *''S.voltzii'' Brongniart (1828)

Description

''Sigillaria'' was a tree-like plant reaching a height up to 30 meters, with a tall, single or occasionally forked trunk that lacked wood. Support came from a layer of closely packed leaf bases just below the surface of the trunk, while the center was filled with pith. The long, thin grasslike leaves were attached directly to the stem and grew in a spiral along the trunk. The old leaf bases expanded as the trunk grew in width, and left a diamond-shaped pattern, which is evident in fossils. These leaf scars were arranged in vertical rows. The trunk had photosynthetic tissue on the surface, meaning that it was probably green. The trunk was topped with a plume of long, grass-like,

microphyll In plant anatomy and evolution a microphyll (or lycophyll) is a type of plant leaf with one single, unbranched leaf vein. Plants with microphyll leaves occur early in the fossil record, and few such plants exist today. In the classical concept of ...

ous leaves, so that the plant looked somewhat like a tall, forked bottle brush. The plant bore its spores (not seeds) in cone-like structures attached to the stem.Sebastián González, D. and Celia Gutiérrez, M. (2014)
El Bosque Petrificado de Olta: 300 millones de años después
''Sigillaria'', like many ancient lycopods, had a relatively short life cycle - growing rapidly and reaching maturity in a few years. Some researchers have suggested that ''Sigillaria'' was

monocarpic Monocarpic plants are those that flower and set seeds only once, and then die. The term is derived from Greek (''mono'', "single" + ''karpos'', "fruit" or "grain"), and was first used by Alphonse de Candolle. Other terms with the same meaning ar ...

, meaning that it died after reproduction, though this is not proven.Encyclopedia of life
/ref> It was associated with ''

'', the scale tree, in the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

swamps.

Gallery

File:Sigillaria1.jpg, ''Sigillaria'' on display at

State Museum of Pennsylvania The State Museum of Pennsylvania is a non-profit museum at 300 North Street in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is run by the state through the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and was created to preserve and interpret the region ...

, from Sharon,

Mercer County, Pennsylvania Mercer County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 110,652. Its county seat is Mercer, and its largest city is Hermitage. The county was created in 1800 and later organized in 1803. Merc ...

File:Sigillaria2.jpg, ''Sigillaria'' (bark) on display at

, from

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Lackawanna County (; unm, Lèkaohane) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania and had a population of 215,896 as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is Scranton. The county ...

File:Sigillaria sp.4 - Carbonifero.JPG, Replica of ''Sigillaria'' sp. in a laboratory of practices of the Faculty of Sciences of the

University of A Coruña The University of A Coruña ( gl, Universidade da Coruña) is a Spanish public university located in the city of A Coruña, Galicia. Established in 1989, university departments are divided between two primary campuses in A Coruña and nearby Fer ...

File:Lycopsid joggins mcr1.JPG, ''In situ'' Lycopsid that is probably ''Sigillaria'' from the Pennsylvanian Joggins Formation in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

File:Sigillaria.png, ''Sigillaria'' Artist's Impression.

Bibliography

* William A. DiMichele, Richard M. Bateman: The Rhizomorphic Lycopsids: A Case-Study in Paleobotanical Classification. Systematic Botany, 1996, Band 21, S. 535-552. * Thomas N. Taylor, Edith L. Taylor, Michael Krings: Paleobotany. The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants. Second Edition, Academic Press 2009, . S. 303-307 * J. W. Sir Dawson - On the structure and affinities of Sigillaria, Calamites and Calamodendron - Paperback – August 16, 2011 * Silva Pineda, A. (2003). "Flora del Pérmico de la región de Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla". En Soto, L. A. Agustín Ayala-Castañares: universitario, impulsor de la investigación científica. UNAM. p. 371.

References

External links

Fossil Plants Vol.II

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1094494 Prehistoric lycophytes Prehistoric lycophyte genera Pennsylvanian plants Permian plants Prehistoric trees Carboniferous first appearances Permian genus extinctions Fossils of Georgia (U.S. state) Paleozoic life of New Brunswick Paleozoic life of Nova Scotia Prehistoric plants of North America