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Earliest evidence for helical crown configuration in a Carboniferous tree of uncertain affinity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Robert A. Gastaldo
Robert A. Gastaldo*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849-5305
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Abstract

The crown of an erect plant (probable juvenile tree/shrub) has been recovered from Lower Pennsylvanian strata of the southern Appalachian basin. It is preserved in three dimensions and provides the first confirmatory evidence for the compact helical arrangement of leaves in early Late Carboniferous plants. The crown is partially cast and partially compressed and is comprised of 11 leaves disposed in a 3/5 phyllotaxis. Substantiation of tight helical leaf development restricted to the crown of an Early Pennsylvanian plant provides evidence for greater architectural diversification in growth habit than presently documented at this time in tree ferns or pteridosperms.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , January 1990 , pp. 146 - 151
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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