Sigillaria

This genus is known in the fossil records from as early as the Middle Devonian or the Late Carboniferous period but dwindled to extinction in the Early Permian period (age range: from 383.7 to 254.0 million years ago). Fossils are found in Great Britain, United States, Canada, China, Korea, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. == Description ==

Sigillaria was a tree-like plant reaching a height up to , These lycopsids had a tall, single or occasionally forked trunk 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. 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. It was associated with Lepidodendron and other lycopsids from the Carboniferous coal swamps. == 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) ==Gallery==

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 ==Bibliography==