Marattialean Tree Ferns Research Articles

Quantitative Analysis and Paleoecology of the Secor Coal and Roof-Shale Floras (Middle Pennsylvanian, Oklahoma)

The Secor Coal of Oklahoma (Boggy Formation, lower Desmoinesian/Westphalian D equivalent) is one of the few coals discovered, to date, in which Anabathra pulcherrima (=Paralycopodites brevifolius) was a dominant element. Anabathra and Lepidophloios define the major assemblages in the coal, which also contains elements of medullosan pteridosperms and Cardiocarpus spinatus producing cordaites. The Lepidophloios to Medullosa gradient is not obscured by the numerous Anabathra-dominated zones, and a disturbance element is suggested in association with Anabathra abundance. Comparison of the coal-ball flora with a clastic-compression flora from the roof of the coal reveals widely divergent patterns of dominance and diversity. The compression flora is strongly dominated by medullosan pteridosperms with subdominant marattialean tree ferns. As in most instances, the compression flora from the immediate roof of the coal is not an accurate representation of the peat-forming vegetation, at either the level of species composition or the relative abundance of major groups of plants. The swamp and surrounding clastic deltaic environments were edaphically distinct and supported separate floras between which there was limited species exchange.

Monocyclic Psaronius from the lower Pennsylvanian of the Illinois Basin

A new species of Psaronius is described from permineralized monocyclic stems with distichous leaf scars. Diameters for the steles are 3.5–4.4 cm, up to 6.5 cm for the stem, and 8 cm for the trunk which includes inner and outer roots; the longest of 11 specimens is 32 cm. These specimens from the lower Pennsylvanian of western Illinois are the oldest known histologically preserved stems and roots for the genus. Psaronius simplicicaulis sp.nov., with its distichous leaf arrangement, is very similar to Mississippian – early Pennsylvanian Megaphyton specimens, indicating that the earliest known marattialean tree ferns were smaller in diameter than their late Pennsylvanian relatives and probably monocyclic with distichous fronds. The middle Pennsylvanian increase in the distribution and abundance of Psaronius generally coincides with increased size, polycyclic stelar anatomy, and polystichy.