#lycopod

[segmentedleg]

fossil lycopods

[melangle]

Phylloglossum drummondii A very unusual clubmoss

[drhoz]

#2340 - Phlegmariurus varius - Hanging Clubmoss

AKA Huperzia billardieri, desvauxii, novae-zelandica and varia, Lycopodium billardierei, flagellaria, novae-zelandicum, pachystachyum, phlegmaria, varium and selago var. varium, Urostachys billardieri and Urostachys varius. At least one of the botanists seems to have tried to forestall the taxonomic splitters by calling it 'variable' but judging by the range of synonyms there it doesn't look like it stuck, at least until the most recent revision. Phlegmariurus billardierei is now its own distinct species, as well, and the only one in the family endemic to New Zealand. varius is also found in Australia, and on some nearish islands. And it may have to be split into more species anyway, since some distinctive forms are stable in cultivation. As of June 2024, the Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World accepted over 300 species in the genus.

The colour varies from green to orange. Sterile ground-dwelling plants can be confused with other clubmosses, which probably contributed to some of the confusion above.

The Huperzioideae have erect rather than creeping growth forms, and their spore-bearing structures are in the axils of unmodified leaves, rather than in the terminal club-like structures that give other lycopods their common name.

It has 256 chromosomes.

Whakapapa Village, North Island Volcanic Plateau, New Zealand

[mixotrophics]

lepidodendron fossils (root impressions,, the holes are vertical roots and the long shallow textured trough is a horizontal root)

There are lots of lycopods nearby, many herbariums have lycopod samples that go back centuries, with DNA that can be used in next gen sequencing …

I like to think the lycopods and the fossils are sitting there together like when you go to a graveyard and wonder if anyone there is a distant distant ancestor of yours

Basalt of an old volcano chamber and the conduit extending out of it. Similar to columnar basalt hexagon time but radial due to the round chamber !

Rough timeline:

Volcano is probably Devonian, most igneous rock here is,

Equatorial swamp in Carboniferous -> lepidodendron and extensive coal veins. Cool sedimentary rock too, with visible effects of tidal deposition,

From then on drift to higher latitudes. And other new places.

[earlypalaeoart]

“Plantes de la période silurienne” [Plants of the Silurian period] from La terre avant le déluge [The world before the deluge] by Louis Figuier, 1863

[cedar-glade]

Every year, I check up on this round stemmed tree moss  Dendrolycopodium hickeyi, individual to see if I can spot any new growth on the cliffside matt. This is similar to flat stemmed rare club moss in many ways outside of it’s rounded vs flat basal stem.  Dendrolycopodium obscurum and Dendrolycopodium hickeyi are both split from the same complex and usually associated with transient burn ridge pine communities(seral(intermediate secondary) succession) or semi permanent ericaceous burn ridge communities thriving on the duff mat and functionally existing due to pine duff associated mycorrhizal symbiosis. Many grape ferns can also be associated with symbiosis in separate habitats and the association and presence of one(the fern) means the other has to be present. These two tree like species feature one strobilus per strobilusphore(the thing that holds the strobilus) Where as running ground cedar(associated heavily with juniper woodland in alkaline context and majority seral succession(but obviously not limited to that))  Diphasiastrum digitatum, has 4 strobili(plural) per strobilusphore; and as the name suggests, it is stoloniferous and runs creating a darn tootin’ dense mat. 

[isthisabiology]

Hello,

Today I am going to talk a little bit about fossils! Mostly those found in Kentucky from the Mississippian (360-325 million years ago) and Pennsylvanian (325-290 mya) period of the Paleozoic era.

I'll start with the Pennsylvanian period, since I have the least variety of fossils from that period. The Pennsylvanian period (in this region) was characterized by swampland, and was full of huge lycopods.

The most common fossils from this period are from lycopod trees! The top two pictures are the fossilized remains of roots, and the little spots on them are attachment points for rootlets (called stigmaria.) Lycopod trees grew to enormous sizes, and you can sometimes find the roots in foot-long chunks.

The last image is part of the trunk and root of one of the trees. (It is not mine, sadly. It's on display at a local wildlife area.) It is a massive hunk of rock, and finding one would be a dream come true! I think that this is a Sigillaria, but I don't have much experience with identifying them. I could be wrong, so if anyone reading this is more experienced, feel free to chime in! :)

During the

Missippian period

this area was covered in shallow ocean and, ho buddy, you wanna talk about fossils, you can study fossils all day here. There is an extraordinary amount of both quantity and variety of fossils. In some places, the rocks look like this:

This is a bit of an extreme example, most rocks don't have this many fossils... but a lot of them do!

One of the most common fossil from this period are the little discs that you can see scattered around the rock above. Those are the stems of aquatic animals called Crinoids. You can also find their tops, but these are much less common.

The first picture is of a more complete piece of a crinoid stem, and the second is a piece of the crown. There are actually some species of crinoids alive today! The ones with stalks are called 'sea lillies,' which look super cool!

These guys are horn corals! Most of them are just a few inches long, but a few have been found that are close to a meter long. The longer ones are generally found in strata from the Denovian period. (360-410 mya)

And we've hit the image limit, but I couldn't have a fossil post about Kentucky without brachiopods! I actually probably should have started with these, since they are the state fossil! My grandparents have tons on them in a creek by their house, so these have been part of my life for about as long as I can remember. (And for anyone who is curious, you can tell a brachiopod from a clam by their shell. Clams have mirrored-imaged shells, while brachiopods have that wacky little curve you can see in the first image.)

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this informative and interesting! If you want more information about fossils in Kentucky, you can learn more here:

I will probably probably make another fossil post at some point, so stay tuned!

[paleoplant]

Three species of club-moss in one day. Life.is.good. #clubmoss #lycopod #lycopodium #huperzia #huperzialucidula #diphasiastrum #lycopodiumobscurum #lycopodiumannotinum https://www.instagram.com/p/B2u2KKTgLDx/?igshid=af2jbv2yooeh