| P number: | P549461 |
|---|---|
| Caption: | Stigmaria, part of the root of a clubmoss. |
| Description: | Today clubmosses are small plants that reach heights of about 50 cm., but are more usually only about 15cm tall (examples are Lycopodium and Huperzia). In Carboniferous times, however, they were very different and some, like Lepidodendron grew to be tree-sized - up to 45 m. tall. Clubmosses of this size had to have a stout root system to anchor them, and at Fossil Grove in Glasgow eleven stumps can be seen with their shallow root systems. The roots of Lepidodendron are called Stigmaria. Lepidodendron grew along the side of lakes. In some cases the muds in which the plant was growing became compacted against the root, and an impression was left in the mud. After the roots had decayed away, other minerals, silts and sands filled the cavity and so made a mould of the root. In this way fossils of Stigmaria were formed, and so well preserved that the scars where finer rootlets were attached are visible. The Plant Kingdom comprises multicellular organisms which grow from an embryo, have cellulose in their cell walls and photosynthesise. This definition separates them from algae (members of Kingdom Protoctista, and from which plants evolved) and fungi (which are placed in the Kingdom Fungae). There are two major groups of plant. A vascular plant has special cells that allow water to pass through it. Non-vascular plants (like mosses, hornworts and liverworts), which are rarely fossilised and known mainly from their spores, lack these special cells. |
| Photographer: | Unknown |
| Copyright statement: | NERC |
| Orientation: | Portrait |
| Size: | 390.42 KB; 361 x 1000 pixels; 31 x 85 mm (print at 300 DPI); 96 x 265 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
| Average Rating: | Not yet rated |
| Categories: | Best of BGS Images/ Fossils |
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