Lepidodendron

Lepidodendron Temporal range: Early Carboniferous–Late Permian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Trunk fragment, showing leaf base scars
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Lycophytes
Class:	Lycopodiopsida
Order:	†Lepidodendrales
Family:	†Lepidodendraceae
Genus:	†Lepidodendron Sternberg, 1820
Species
L. aculeatum Sternberg 1820 L. batovii Chachlov 1948 L. obovatum Sternberg 1820 L. whitehillianum Anderson & Anderson 1986
Synonyms
Dimicheleodendron B.A.Thomas & C.J.Cleal

Lepidodendron is an extinct genus of primitive lycopodian vascular plants belonging the order Lepidodendrales. It is well preserved and common in the fossil record. Like other Lepidodendrales, species of Lepidodendron grew as large-tree-like plants in wetland coal forest environments. They sometimes reached heights of 50 metres (160 feet),^[1] and the trunks were often over 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in diameter. They are often known as "scale trees", due to their bark having been covered in diamond shaped leaf-bases, from which leaves grew during earlier stages of growth. However, they are correctly defined as arborescent lycophytes. They thrived during the Carboniferous Period (358.9 to 298.9 million years ago), and persisted until the end of the Permian around 252 million years ago. Sometimes erroneously called "giant club mosses", the genus was actually more closely related to modern quillworts than to modern club mosses. In the form classification system used in paleobotany, Lepidodendron is both used for the whole plant as well as specifically the stems and leaves.