Description

Pennsylvanian

Pella, Iowa, USA

Superb 2.2 inch bark impression from a branch. Excellent hand specimen.

Bark, Lycopod.  Late Carboniferous.

Lepidodendron is an extinct genus of primitive vascular plants that have been informally termed as “scale trees.”  They thrived under tropical conditions and were the tallest trees of the Pennsylvanian Period, contributing to a vast mass of plant material as they lived and died, this mass eventually transforming into the substantial coal deposits of the eastern United States and parts of Europe .

The drier climates of the Permian restricted the range of these trees as they also competed with evolving gymnosperms.  Lepidodendron managed to survive the end-Permian extinction but died out during the Late Triassic.