212 FLORA OF LOWER COAL MEASURES OF MISSOURL 



LEPIDOSTROBUS Brougniart, 1828. 

 Prodrome, p. ST. 



LEPIDOSTROBUS PRINCEPS Lx. 



PL LXII, Fig. /); PI. LXIII, Figs. 1, 2; PL LXIV, Fig. a. 



1866. Lepidostrohus princeps Lesquereux, Rept. Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. ii, p. 455, 



1)1. xlv, figs. 1-4. 

 1880, Lepidostrohuis priiici'pn Lesquereux, Coal Flora, vol. ii, p. 434. 



Cones linear, -40 cm. or more iu length, 6 to 8 cm. in width, narrowed 

 slightly toward the base, somewhat abrupth' contracted at the top to a 

 slightly acuminate apex; axis rugose, 12 to 15 mm. in width, with fusiform 

 areolations 5 to 7 mm. long and about 1.7.5 mm. wide, the central scar 

 being about .75 mm. in diameter; sporangiophores usually nearly at a right 

 angle, sometimes slighth' reflexed, but often, especially in the upper part 

 of the cone, oblique, narrow, slightly concave! y cuneate, nearly 20 mm. 

 long, 5 to 7 mm. wide at the distal end, witli a clear though not verj^ 

 prominent central strand; bracts usually nearly -erect, though often slightly 

 open, generall}^ arching outward a little, slender, 4 to 5 cm. long, 6 to 9 mm. 

 wide at the base, tapering to a long, slender acuminate point, the sides 

 being slightly concave, especially near the base; median nerve broad near 

 the base though not conspicuous, marked on the ventral surface by a low- 

 rounded ridge on either side of a flat, ver}- slightly depressed zone, or 

 forming a broad, low keel on the dorsal surface, tapering and very slender 

 toward the apex; sjjoraugia and spores not definitely known. 



Unfortunately the numerous specimens which I refer to the above 

 species are so compressed as to give little or no data as to the nature of the 

 sporangium or its contents. The sporangiophores show, when the cone is 

 broken along the axis, as is seen in PL LXIII, Fig. 1, little but a mass of 

 densely compressed strands and marginal laminae, which are often distorted 

 and apparently somcAvhat macerated. Occasionally, but very sparsely, 

 both macrospores and microspores are found among the bracts and between 

 the sporangiophores; but, in view of the readiness of these objects to lodge 

 in such recesses, one can not be certain that they were ever a part of the 

 cone, though the presence, now and then, of one close to the axis argues 

 for its origin near at hand. 



