144 Chapman, The Palisozoic Flora. [voV'^xxxi'v 



The arborescent cryptogams, represented l>y the widely- 

 distributed genus Lef>ido(fe)i(Iroii, are a predominant feature 

 of the Devono-Carboniferous flora. Tn New Soutli Wales tlie 

 lower part of the Middle Devonian at Tamwortli has yielded 

 Lepidodendron aitstrale, but the genus and species is more 

 abundant in the higher beds — the Upper Devonian and Lower 

 Carboniferous. In New South Wales certain Lepidodendron 

 horizons are generally referred to the Upper Devonian, whilst 

 in \'ictoria they are called Lower Carboniferous. Etheridge 

 finds Lingida (L. gregaria) associated with tliese beds, which, 

 however, by its relationsliip to L. inytiloides of the European 

 Lower Carboniferous, belongs perhaps more properly to the 

 latter formation. But it is very evident in studying both 

 floras and faunas in Australia that the well-defined epochs of 

 the northern hemisphere have no such stratigraphical l:)reak 

 between them here, the beds being often represented by 

 " passage beds." The Upper Devonian in Victoria has an 

 interesting flora, contained in the red and yellow sandstones 

 of Iguana Cret^k, in East Gippsland, where the moderately 

 large strap-shaped leaves of the semi-aquatic gymnosperm, 

 Cordaites, occurs, together with the oldest-recorded Australian 

 ferns, Sphenopteris igiianensis and Archceopteris Howitti. A 

 similar flora in New South Wales contains, besides Cordaites 

 anstralis and Archceopteris Howitti, Pecopteris ohscura and 

 Sphenopteris Carnei. The genus Cordaites is found elsewhere 

 in the Middle and Upper Devonian of North America and in 

 the Carboniferous of Europe. 



In the C.\RBOMFKROUS of Australia we have an ap])an'ntly 

 sudden increase in the members of the pal.eozoic flora. Lepido- 

 dendron is much in evidence, and in this period was widely 

 distributed, reaching as far as South Africa, where it is found 

 in the Lower Karoo of the Orange River Station.* In Car- 

 boniferous times the Australian landscape must have presented 

 a glorious sight, and the graceful hal)it of the trees, com])ined 

 with the beauty of the ferny undergrowth of Archu-opteris 

 and Sphenopteris, would no doubt favourably compare in 

 beauty witli some present-day aspects of Queensland sul)- 

 tropical scenery. As Seward remarks,! " A fully-grown Lepido- 

 dendron must have been an impressive tree, probably of sombre 

 colour, relieved by the encircling felt of green needles on the 

 young, pendulous twigs. The leaves of some species were 

 similar to those of a fir, while in others they resembled the 

 filiform needles of the Himalayan Pine, Pinus longifolia." 

 The type form, L. australe, is found in Victoria, Queensland, 

 and New South Wales, and it has been suggested (hat the 



• Seward, " Geol. Mag.," vol. iv., 1907, p. 481. 

 + JdetH, " Fossil Plants," vol. ii., 1910, p. 95. 



