CHAPTER XVIII. 



Bothrodendreae. 



Bothrodendron. Figs. 211 — 216. 



Although in many respects the genus Bothrodendron 

 agrees very closely in habit and in its anatomical features with 

 Lepidodendron, there are reasons for referring it to a distinct 

 family of Palaeozoic Lycopods. As the following description 

 shows, the external features do not differ in any essential points 

 from those of certain types of the genus Sigillaria, particularly 

 such a species as S. rimosa, Gold.^, which has recently been 

 refigured and described by Nathorsf^ from Goldenberg's type- 

 specimen in the Stockholm Museum. The small size of 

 the leaf-scars is, however, a characteristic feature of Bothro- 

 dendron (fig. 212, F); but a more important point is the 

 fact that in a recently described' English example of a cone of 

 Bothrodendron (fig. 216), the sporangia are very like those of 

 recent Lycopods, and differ from the radially elongated spo- 

 rangia of Lepidostrobus. On the other hand, a French cone 

 described by Zeiller^ as Lepidostrobus Olryi, which is probably 

 a strobilus of Bothrodendron, has the radially elongated type 

 of sporangium (fig. 212, E). The comparative abundance of 

 Bothrodendron in Lower Carboniferous and Devonian rocks 

 points to the greater antiquity of this member of the Lycopo- 

 diales as compared with Lepidodendron. 



1 Goldenberg (55) PI. vi. figs. 1—4. 2 Nathorst (94) A. PI. xvi. fig. 9. 

 3 Watson (08). ■< Zeiller (88) A. PI. lxxvii. fig. 1. 



