THE mie 
GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. i 
NEW SERIES. DECADE II. VOL. X. a 
No. IL—FEBRUARY, 1883. 
ORIGINAL ARTEaC Les: 
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T.—On tHe Foutace or Siqrcarr4 SERLU, BRONGN. 
By Wn. Carrutuers, F.R.S., F.G.S. ; 
Keeper of the Botanical Department, British Museum (Natural History). 
(PLATE II.) 
sae rarity of specimens of Sigillaria with foliage attached makes 
the specimen figured on Plate II. of great value. Since Lindley 
and Hutton figured a fragment of Sigillarian leaf, and from its 
nervation referred it to Cyperacee under the designation of Cyperites 
bicarinata (plate 48), not a little has been done to elucidate the 
foliage of this important genus. 
Brongniart, in one of the latest plates (161) of his great work, 
figures the bases of long parallel-sided leaves proceeding from the 
fragment of a large stem marked with ridges and furrows, and 
belonging to the restricted genus Sigillaria. ‘To this plant he gave 
the name S. lepidodendrifolia. Other figures of species of the same 
group have been published (see Geinitz, Steink. Form. in Sachs., 
etc.). Long linear leaves are considered to be characteristic of the 
genus Sigillaria. And in support of this generalization we are able 
to figure a singularly beautiful specimen of Sigillaria Serlii, Brovgn., 
which belongs to the group of species to which Brongniart gave it 
the name Clathraria, and which is characterized by the absence of ‘] 
furrows on the stem, the bases of the leaves being contiguous, i! 
rhomboidal, longest in the transverse diameter, and placed in regular iy 
alternating verticils. The leaf separates at some distance from the 
stem, leaving a short cushion or permanent leaf-base adhering to the ut 
stem. The cicatrix produced by the separation of the leaf is smaller 
than the cushion, and is marked by three small vascular scars across i 
the largest diameter. I have been unable to discover any reason i 
for considering that the lateral scars in these or any other species of yi 
Sigillaria are indications of gum canals. rt 
In the species figured, S. Serlii, Brongn., the scar caused by the 
- separation of the leaf is ovoid-rhomboidal, and the three vascular 
scars are of nearly uniform size. The leaves are very long, but 
though several extend to a little over twelve inches from their 
origin on the branch to the edge of the slab, they are there broken 
across. On the upper portion of the slab are the apices of some 
leaves from another branch, and one of these presents what I believe 
to be the true apex. The sides of the leaves are nearly parallel, 
DECADE IIl.—yOL. X.—NO. II. 4 
TNL AND TS SO 
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