FOSSIL PLANTS OP THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 



601 



excelsa, the Norfolk-Island Pine. Their wood, under the microscope, 

 exhibits the punctated appearance and other characters of Conifers 

 (figs. 806-809), and the disks are often in two or more rows (fig. 808). 



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Some specimens have been found upwards of 70 feet long. These 

 Coniferae seem not to have been associated with the Sigillarias and the 

 other plants which abound in coal seams. They probably flourished 

 in the neighbourhood, and were at times transported to these localities. 

 A peculiar kind of fossil fruit called Trigonocarpum, resembling that 

 of a Palm, has been found in some of the carboniferous sandstones. 

 Noggeraihia and Flabellaria have been referred to species of Palms, but 

 Brongniart considers them as Cycadaceous. Lyginodendron (xt/y/vo?, 

 wicker-work) is a peculiar coal fossil discovered by the Rev. Mr. 

 Landsborough in Ayrshire, and described by Mr. Gourlie. Its im- 

 pression consists of rounded narrow twigs, which cross each other 

 like the parts of an osier basket. Sternbergia is a peculiar fossil, con- 

 sisting of horizontal plates, which are held together by some con- 

 nection in the axis. Some look upon it as allied to Dracaena. It 

 may be remarked, in general, that the Carboniferous flora is uniform, 

 or nearly so, in all parts of the globe where carboniferous fossils have 

 been obtained, viz. the whole of western, northern, and eastern Europe, 

 North America, from Alabama to Melville Island, various districts of 

 Asia, Eastern Australia, and Van Dieman's Land, and probably the 

 Asiatic Islands. 



1185. As the great mass of fossils in the coal formation consists 

 principally of ferns, Brongniart has been led to draw conclusions as to the 



Figs. 806-809. The structure of wood in recent Coniferse, to Illustrate the appearances presented 

 by some fossil woods. 



Fig. 806. Transverse section of a piece of Coniferous wood, of the natural size. 



Fig. 807. A section of the same wood seen under the microscope. The medullary rays and 

 woody tubes seen without any large porous vessels. 



Fig. 808. Longitudinal section of the same, in the direction B c, magnified. A medullary ray 

 seen crossing the woody tubes, which are marked by disks, in one or more rows. 



Fig. 809. Section of the same in the direction A B, perpendicular to the medullary rays, which 

 are seen at intervals between the woody fibres. 



