Sigillaria

This genus is known in the fossil records from as early as the Middle Devonian or the Late Carboniferous period [http://steurh.home.xs4all.nl/engsig/esigilla.html Hans' Paleobotany Pages - The clubmoss tree Sigillaria] but dwindled to extinction in the Early Permian period (age range: from 383.7 to 254.0 million years ago).[http://global.britannica.com/plant/Sigillaria-fossil-plant Encyclopædia Britannica] Fossils are found in Great Britain, United States, Canada, China, Korea, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.{{Cite web |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=157272 |title=Paleobiology Database |access-date=2021-12-18 |archive-date=2023-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106060356/http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?taxon_no=157272&action=checkTaxonInfo |url-status=live }}

File:Sigillaria.png

File:PSM V18 D631 Sigillaria reticulata and graeseri.jpg Sigillaria was a tree-like plant reaching a height up to {{cvt|30|m}}, and lycopsids were capable to reach a height of up to {{cvt|50|m}}. {{cite book

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OUIPAQAAMAAJ&q=лепидодендроны

| title = Geografiia rastenii s osnovani botaniki (Geography of plants and basics of botany)

| publisher = Gos. nauchno-pedagog. izd-vo

| date = 1961

| access-date = 2020-10-05

| page = 167

| author = V. V. Alekhin

}} These lycopsids had 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, microphyllous 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). [https://books.google.com/books?id=1YpZAwAAQBAJ&dq=Sigillaria+plantae&pg=PA22 El Bosque Petrificado de Olta: 300 millones de años después] {{ISBN|9781312079465}}

The underground structures of arborescent lycophytes including Sigillaria and Lepidodendron are assigned under the form taxon, Stigmaria. The lycopsids had rhizomes or shoot-like rhizomorphic axes, with lateral appendages attached from the circular scars, forming an underground network of branched rootlets. These stigmarian rootlets branched dichotomously from the rhizomorphs similar to Isoetes, and spread throughout the coal swamp forest areas where the lycopods were commonly found. Root hairs from the rootlet scars identified in Stigmaria fossils were attached when the lycopsids were alive.{{cite journal |last1=Hetherington |first1=A.J. |last2=Berry |first2=C.M. |last3=Dolan |first3=Liam |title=Networks of highly branched stigmarian rootlets developed on the first giant trees |journal=PNAS |date=2016 |volume=113 |issue=24| pages=6695–6700 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1514427113|doi-access=free |pmc=4914198 }}

Sigillaria, like many ancient lycopods, had a relatively short life cycle - growing rapidly and reaching maturity in a few years. Sigillaria may have been monocarpic, meaning that it died after reproduction, though this is not proven.{{Cite web |url=http://media.eol.org/pages/5889559/details |title=Encyclopedia of life |access-date=2015-07-19 |archive-date=2018-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707094035/http://media.eol.org/pages/5889559/details |url-status=dead }} It was associated with Lepidodendron and other lycopsids from the Carboniferous coal swamps.

Species within this genus include:[http://steurh.home.xs4all.nl/engsig/esigsort.html Hans' Paleobotany Pages - Species of Sigillaria]

File:Sigillariaceae - Sigillaria trigona.JPG]]{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• 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)

{{div col end}}

File:Joggins-bark.jpg|Sigillaria lycopod fossil, Joggins, Nova Scotia, Canada

File:Stanhope Tree - geograph.org.uk - 2531669.jpg|Fossil of Sigillaria trunk attached to a stigmarian root system (lycopsid rhizomes)

File:Sigillaria1.jpg|Sigillaria on display at State Museum of Pennsylvania, from Sharon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania

File:Sigillaria2.jpg|Sigillaria (bark) on display at State Museum of Pennsylvania, from Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania

File:Sigillaria sp.4 - Carbonifero.JPG|Replica of Sigillaria sp. at the University of A Coruña

File:Lycopsid joggins mcr1.JPG|In situ Lycopsid that is probably Sigillaria from the Pennsylvanian Joggins Formation in Nova Scotia

File:Sigillaria notata.jpg|A close-up of the leaf scars on a Sigillaria notata

File:Sigillaria mammillaris - Naturmuseum Freiburg - DSC06753.jpg|Sigillaria mammillaris

File:Sigillaria elegans fossil.jpg|Sigillaria elegans

File:PSM V18 D632 Restoration of sigillaria.jpg|Sigillaria restorations

File:Dawson upright fossil.gif|Sigillaria preserved in the cliffs at Joggins, Nova Scotia, Canada

File:Lycopod bark.jpg|Lycopod bark (possibly an early species of Sigillaria) showing leaf scars, from the Middle Devonian of Wisconsin.

File:Sigillaria reconstrucción.jpg|Restoration

• William A. DiMichele, Richard M. Bateman: The Rhizomorphic Lycopsids: A Case-Study in Paleobotanical Classification. Systematic Botany, 1996, volume 21, pages 535-552.
• Thomas N. Taylor, Edith L. Taylor, Michael Krings: Paleobotany. The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants. Second Edition, Academic Press 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-12-373972-8}}, pages 303-307
• J. W. Sir Dawson - On the structure and affinities of Sigillaria, Calamites and Calamodendron - Paperback – August 16, 2011 {{ISBN|1175560871}}
• 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. {{ISBN|9789703207893}}

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Sigillaria}}

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=BIU8AAAAIAAJ&dq=Sigillaria+elongata&pg=PR16 Fossil Plants Vol.II]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060216025959/http://www.bartleby.com/65/le/Lepidode.html The Columbia Encyclopedia]

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Category:Prehistoric lycophytes

Category:Prehistoric lycophyte genera

Category:Pennsylvanian plants

Category:Permian plants

Category:Prehistoric trees

Category:Carboniferous first appearances

Category:Permian genus extinctions

Category:Fossils of Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Paleozoic life of New Brunswick

Category:Paleozoic life of Nova Scotia

Category:Prehistoric plants of North America