FOSSIL FLORA. 67 



PLATE XXV. 



" Frondose Megaphyton." 



{Megaphyton distans, of Lindley and Huttoii's Fossil Flora of Great Britain. ) 



Very large stems not channelled, with regular cicatrices of great size, arranged longitudinally, 

 occur in the sandstone and grits of the Carboniferous formation, and are supposed to belono- to a 

 tribe of extinct plants, more nearly allied to the arborescent ferns of our tropical climes, than to 

 any other existing trees. 



The specimen figured is part of a stem ten feet in length, from a quarry near Rowmarsh 

 in Yorkshire. 



This stem has a coarse fibrous surface, furrowed longitudinally ; the cicatrices left by the 

 shedding of the leaves are of a horseshoe shape with the points directed upwards. 



This group ot stems has been separated by writers on fossil botany into several genera, as 

 Bothrodendron, Ulodendron, &c.' In some of these the scars are five inches in diameter. 



There are many fine examples of these fossils in the British Museum. 



' See Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Essay, plate 56. 



