Sprecher
Beschreibung
Lepidodendron aculeatum is an arborescent lycopod that populated the vast coal swamps in north-western and central Europe during the Late Carboniferous (Serpukhovian–Moscovian) dominating the lush vegetation of tropical wetlands. Not only was the species the most prominent producer of the thick coal seams mined in those areas for the last centuries, these up to 40-m-tall plants also represent the most iconic fossils of the Upper Carboniferous. Lepidodendron aculeatum is known predominantly from trunks and fragments of trunk/branch surfaces, or external moulds, with their characteristic leaf scars (‘scales’), but articulated fossils are very rare. Here, we present a 4-m-long, articulated branch system – a partial crown – of Lepidodendron aculeatum, as well as further excellently preserved fossils of trunks/branches with attached leaves, and possible conspecific strobili and sporophylls preserved with particular anatomical details, from the Bashkirian fossil lagerstätte of Hagen-Vorhalle in NW Germany. Based on the described fossils, we emend the diagnosis of Lepidodendron aculeatum and add information to the common perception of the reconstruction of these iconic arborescent plants. Furthermore, we present the reconstruction of a display model of the canopy of Lepidodendron aculeatum in 1:1 scale, created for the current exhibition of our museum.