A WOODY LYCOPSID STEM FROM THE NEW ALBANY SHALE (LOWER MISSISSIPPIAN) OF KENTUCKY

A lycopsid axis from the New Albany Shale (Sanderson Formation) of Kentucky is described. The stem, which branches dichotomously, is 45 mm in diameter and is characterized by a relatively narrow parenchymatized protostele, a 3.0 mm-thick cylinder of secondary xylem, a tripartite cortex, and a periderm that is more than 5.0 mm thick. The secondary xylem is composed of uniseriate and biseriate vascular rays and narrow tracheids with scalariform wall thickenings on both radial and tangential walls. The periderm is characterized by elongate, thick-walled cells, some of which broaden tangentially in the outer part of the tissue forming zones that appear wedge-shaped in cross section. Surface features of the axis, including leaf bases, are not preserved. The stem is tentatively regarded as a member of the Lepidodendrales in accordance with the numerous anatomical characters that it shares with more recent representatives of the order. Because the external morphology is not known, however, the possibility exists that the axis corresponds to a protolepidodendralean taxon currently known only from compression and/or impression remains or some other nonlepidodendralean plant that produced secondary xylem. The extremely narrow profile of the secondary xylem tracheids (relative to other arborescent lycopsids) is interpreted as evidence that the plants grew in a habitat that was substantially drier than the Upper Carboniferous coal swamps.