PAST HISTORIES OF PLANT FAMILIES 135 



trated (see fig. 46 and fig. 9), and is one of the best 

 known of fossil fructifications. 



From the abundant, though scattered material, fossil 

 botanists have reconstructed the plants in all their detail. 

 The trunks were lofty and of great thickness, bearing 





Jf' 



V / 



Fig. 93. — Photo of Leaf Bases oi Lepidodendron 



C, Scar of leaf; s, leaf base. In the scar; v, mark of severed vascular bundle, and 

 p, of parichnos. /, Ligule scar. 



towards the apex a much-branched crown, the branches, 

 even down to the finest twigs, all dividing into two equal 

 parts. The leaves, as would be expected from the great 

 size of the plants, were much bigger than those of the 

 recent species (fig. 93 shows the actual size of the leaf 

 bases), but they were of the same relatively small size 

 as compared with the stems, and of the same simple 



