CH. XVIIlJ BOTHRODENDRON 249 



The name Bothrodendron was instituted by Lindley and 

 Hutton'^ for impressions of stems from the English Coal- 

 Measures, characterised by two opposite rows of large de- 

 pressions like those shown in fig. 211 and, in one of the 

 specimens, by " a considerable number of minute dots, arranged 

 in a quincuncial manner." The minute dots were recognised 

 as leaf-scars and the cup-like cavities were described as probably 

 connected with the occurrence of large cones. On very slender 

 evidence this Palaeozoic plant, which was named Bothrodendron 

 punctatum, was considered by these authors as probably a 

 member of the Coniferales. The large stem from the Coal- 

 Measures in the neighbourhood of Mons, Belgium, shown in 

 fig. 211, affords a good illustration of Bothrodendron in a partially 

 decorticated condition, exhibiting a row of depressions similar to 

 those on the Ulodendron form of Lepidodendron Veltheimianum 

 (fig. 157), but distinguished by the eccentric position of the 

 scar at the bottom of each cup-shaped cavity : in the Belgian 

 specimen, which is partially decorticated and shows the leaf- traces 

 as small dots, the depressions have a diameter of 9 cm. It is 

 believed by some authors that these Ulodendron shoots of 

 Bothrodendron and Lepidodendron owe their characteristic 

 appearance to the pressure of large cones, but, as I have already 

 stated, there are reasons for preferring the view that these 

 crater-like hollows are the scars of deciduous branches. Our 

 knowledge of the strobili borne by Bothrodendron stems is 

 still meagre, but we have no reason to assume the existence of 

 any cones large enough to produce by the pressure of their 

 bases such depressions as those shown in fig. 211. In one species 

 at least the strobili were borne terminally on slender shoots 

 (fig. 213). The Ulodendron condition has so far been recognised 

 in one species only, B. punctatum. 



In his catalogue of Palaeozoic plants, Kidston^ included 

 Bothrodendron punctatum as a synonym of Sigillaria discophora 

 Konig, a mistake which he afterwards rectified^ : the generic 

 name Bothrodendron was generally ignored by authors in the 

 belief that the specimens described by Lindley and Hutton 



1 Cf. Lindley and Hutton (35) A. Pis. 80, 81. 



2 Kidston (86) A. p. 175. " ibid. (86*) p. 65. 



