Abstract
Small sporangia borne abaxially on pinnules attached to Botryopteris foliar members are described from coal ball petrifactions of Early Pennsylvanian age. This is the first report of laminar sporangia in this genus. Sporangia are stalked and borne singly near lateral veins on Sphenopteris‐like pinnules. Individual sporangia are of the leptosporangiate type, with a lateral annulus and a dehiscence zone of thin‐walled cells immediately adjacent to the annulus. Spores are small, trilete, triangular in outline, typically have blunt spines covering the exine, and correspond to the dispersed spore genera Acanthotriletes, Leiotriletes, or Lophotriletes. These sporangia and their spores are unlike previously described globose Botryopteris fructifications from the Middle and Upper Pennsylvanian, but are similar to sporangia produced by modern members of the Osmundaceae.
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