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Pennsylvanian Fossil Plant Gallery

?

(Phylum)

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Red text = needs information

Fossil identification by Jo Cox unless otherwise noted

Warning: Reference material used for identification is old. Group names may have changed.

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1 billion years ago - multi-cellular plants appear in the fossil record.

600 million years ago, Cambrian Period - water plants became common.

430 million years ago, Silurian Period - plants started growing above the water line.  Advanced vascular systems carried nutrients and fluids throughout the organism.  The innovation of roots and leaves let plants adapt to moist ground and photosynthesize more efficiently. 

360 million years ago, Mississippian Period - an explosion of green life spread throughout the world .  Horsetails, club mosses, ferns, cycads, and ginkgos dominated the land.  Some of these simple plants grew into trees, 100 feet tall.

330 million years ago, Pennsylvanian Period - conifers and cypress develop, quickly followed by insects to eat them.

280 million years ago, early Permian Period - The first herbivorous land vertebrates appear.

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Pteridophyta, Cycadofilicales, ?, Alethopterideae

(Group, Class, Order, Family)

Alethopteris serli

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ?

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 21 mm long x 7 mm wide (longest)

slab B 1i Alethopteris serli.jpg (1577396 bytes)

Description: pinnule leaflets in red/black shale (Slab B)

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Tracheophyta (Pteropsida), Gymnospermae, Pteriodospermae, Pecopterides

(Division, Class, Order, Family)

These are fern-like leaves from a variety of gymnosperm trees.

 

Asterotheca candolleana

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ?

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 13 mm long

slab B 1a Asterotheca candolleana.jpg (124362 bytes)

Description: segment of a pinnule in red/black shale (Slab B)

 

Asterotheca hemitelioides

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ?

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

#1 slab C 2b Asterotheca hemitelioides.jpg (3273793 bytes)  Size: 26 mm long

#2 slab C 2e Asterotheca hemitelioides.jpg (2435034 bytes)  Size: 24 mm long

2 specimens on one slab

Description: secondary pinna of a fern-like frond in red/black shale (Slab C)

 

Asterotheca miltoni

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: Mazon Creek, Illinois

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

#1 Asterotheca miltoni - Mazon Creek, Illinois 1a.jpg (2171938 bytes)  Size: 115 mm long

#2 Asterotheca miltoni - Mazon Creek, Illinois 2a.jpg (1579334 bytes)  Size: 67 mm long

2 specimens

Description: segment pinna, in nodule.  This is the most common leaf found in the Pennsylvanian.  Each frond and pinna branches forming a new frond.

 

Asterotheca oreopteridia

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ?

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 17 mm long

slab B 1e Asterotheca oreopteridia.jpg (751312 bytes)

Description: secondary pinna in red/black shale (Slab B)

 

Asterotheca oreopteridia

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ?

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 56 mm long

Asterotheca oreopteridia 3.jpg (2589489 bytes)

Description: secondary pinna in red/black shale

 

Asterotheca sp.

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ?

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 28 mm long

Asterotheca oreopteridia 4.jpg (2100513 bytes)

Description: secondary pinna in red/black shale.  This plant's leaflets were fuzzy, blurring details.

 

Asterotheca sp.

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ?

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 17  mm long

slab C 2d Asterotheca sp..jpg (2098629 bytes)

Description: pinnule leaflet in red/black shale (Slab C)

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?, ?, ?, Pecopterideae

(Phylum, Class, Order, Family)

The Psaronius is a Seed-Fern tree that could grow 50 feet high with a 5 foot diameter trunk.

 

Psaronius sp.

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: Berryville, Illinois

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 137 mm long

Psaronius - tree fern - Berryville Illinois.jpg (826894 bytes)

Description: cross-section of trunk, polished

 

Pecopteris clintoni

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: Mazon Creek, Illinois

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 53 mm long

Pecopteris clintoni - Mazon Creek, Illinois 1a.jpg (2165619 bytes)

Description: Leaf of the Seed Fern Psaronius, in nodule, both sides

 

Pecopteris serpillifolia

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: Mazon Creek, Illinois

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

#1 Pecopteris serpillifolia 1.jpg (1991420 bytes)  Size: 70 mm long

#2 Pecopteris serpillifolia 2.jpg (1042623 bytes)  Size: 40 mm long

2 specimens

Description: Leaf of the Seed Fern Psaronius, in nodule

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?, ?, ?, Sphenopterideae

(Phylum, Class, Order, Family)

Aphlebia sp.

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ? (West Virginia)

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 9 mm long

slab A - Aphlebia sp. 1b.jpg (1136032 bytes)

Description: pinnule of a fern-like frond, which had highly scalloped leaflets like lettuce, in dark gray shale (Slab A)

 

Corynepteris sternbergi

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ? (West Virginia)

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 41 mm long

slab B - Corynepteris sternbergi.jpg (1939427 bytes)

Description: frond of the tree-fern, Psaronius in dark gray shale (Slab B)

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?, ?, ?, Neuropterideae

(Phylum, Class, Order, Family)

Neuropteris clarksoni

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ?

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 21 mm long

slab B 1f Neuropteris clarksoni.jpg (2113441 bytes)

Description: section of a pinnule leaflet of a Seed Fern frond in red/black shale (Slab B)

 

Neuropteris gigantea

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: Mazon Creek, Illinois

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 156 mm long

Neuropteris gigantea - Mazon Creek, Illinois.jpg (335540 bytes)

Description: Sead Fern frond, in nodule (both halves)

 

Neuropteris plicata

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: Mazon Creek, Illinois

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 13 mm long

slab B 1c Neuropteris plicata.jpg (272438 bytes)

Description: pinnule leaflet of a Seed Fern frond, in red/black shale  (Slab B)

 

Neuropteris scheuchzeri

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: Mazon Creek, Illinois

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 88 mm long nodule

Neuropteris scheuchzeri - Mazon Creek, Illinois.jpg (1271046 bytes)

Description: secondary pinna of a Seed Fern frond, in nodule

 

Neuropteris tenuifolia

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ?

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 18 mm long

slab B 1g Neuropteris tenuifolia.jpg (3178051 bytes)

Description: Pinnule leaflet of a Seed Fern frond in red/black shale.  (Slab B)

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Tracheophyta (Sphenopsida), Equisetinae, Calamitales, Calamariaceae

(Phylum, Class, Order, Family)

This is a tree-like rush related to today's horsetails found along streams.  Like horsetails, leaves grew in rings around the stem.  Because of a thick secondary growth on the trunk, these giant rushes could reach 50 feet tall.  The trunk and stems grew in short segments and could continue to grow as the marshy sediments buried them.

 

Calamites sp.

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ?

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 200 mm long

Calamitess - trunk 1a.jpg (1812717 bytes)

Description: section of trunk

 

Calamites sp.

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ? (West Virginia)

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 44 mm long x 4 mm wide (longest)

slab C - Calamites stem.jpg (435609 bytes)

Description: sections of stems showing segmentation lines in dark gray shale (Slab C)

 

Annularia stellata

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: Mazon Creek, Illinois

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 56 mm long

Annularia stellata - Mazon Creek, Illinois 3a.jpg (2477406 bytes)

Description: leaf ring of a Calamites, in nodule

 

Annularia radiata

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ? (West Virginia)

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 11 mm long (leaflet 45 degrees, larger aster)

slab A - Annularia radiata 1a.jpg (1188835 bytes)

Description: leaf rings of a Calamites, in dark gray shale.  The long dark strip between the asters and the large square-ish patch are impression of the flattened outer surface of the stem of a Calamites.  (Slab A)

 

Paleostachya

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ? (West Virginia)

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 17 mm long 4 mm wide (cone)

slab A - Paleostachya - Calamites cone 1c.jpg (884085 bytes)

Description: Reproductive cone of a Calamites tree-rush in dark gray shale.  It is the long fuzzy thing.  Just to the right is an Alethopteris sp. leaflet.   the long dark strips are the flattened outer surface of a stem of a Calamites.  (Slab A)

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?, ?, ?, Lepidodendreae

(Phylum, Class, Order, Family)

These trees were very abundant and very large in the late Paleozoic.  These trees reached heights of 130 feet tall with trunks 6 feet in diameter.  There are layers of coal made up of just the spores of the trees.  The few descendents of the group are very small: club-moss and ground-pine.  The name Lepidondendron means "scale-like tree".  the bark is characterized by a diamond shaped pattern where leaves once attached, called leaf scars or leaf cushions.

 

Lepidophyllum sp.

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ? (West Virginia)

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 42 mm long

slab B - Lepidophyllum.jpg (309661 bytes)

Description: section of a leaf in dark gray shale (Slab B)

 

Stigmaria sp.

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ? (Texas)

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 292 mm long

Stigmaria - Scale tree root - Penn.jpg (1606469 bytes)

Description: This name is given to the root casts of various scale-trees.  The diamond shapes isolate nodes where ribbon-like rootlets grew.  A vascular tube runs off-center through the main root.  It carried fluids and possibly nutrients to the tree.

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Pteridophyta, Sphenophyllales, ?, Sphenophylleae

(Group, Class, Order, Family)

Sphenophyllum cuneifolium

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ? (West Virginia)

Collection: Abilene Christian University Natural History Collection

Size: 18mm long

slab C - Sphenophyllum cuneifolium.jpg (1081093 bytes)

Description: leaves in dark gray shale.  The leaves of this plant are grouped in rings around the stem.  It was a small herbaceous climbing vine. (Slab C)

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Tracheophyta (Pteropsida), Gymnospermae, Cordaitales, Cordaitaceae

(Phylum, Class, Order, Family)

These long strap-like leaves could grow 2-3 feet long.  Tall and thin, the Cordaites tree could exceed 100 feet tall with diameters of only two feet.  They probably grew up river from swamps as the leaves are more common than the trunk.   The tip of a leaf is needed for species identification.

 

Cordaites sp.

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ? (West Virginia)

Collection: Abilene Christian University University Natural History Collection

Size: 116 mm long x 13 mm wide

Cordaites sp. 1a.jpg (1871652 bytes)

Description: leaf section, in dark gray shale.  Both sides of leaf are present.

 

Cordaites sp.

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: ?

Collection: Hardin-Simmons University

Size: 100 mm long

Slab A - Cordaites leaf.jpg (178328 bytes)

Description: leaf section, in red/black shale (Slab A)

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?, ?, ?

(Phylum, Class, Order)

Lescuropteris sp.

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: Parker Co., Texas

Collection: Jo Cox

Identified by: (purchased)

Size: 80 mm long block

Lescuropteris.jpg (610485 bytes)

Description: fern-like frond, in coal

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?, ?, ?

(Phylum, Class, Order)

Fern ?

Period: Pennsylvanian

Location: near Mineral Wells, Texas

Collection: Bill Robinson

Identified by:

Size: ? mm long block

 

Description: fern-like frond, in sandstone

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