. Elements of geology : a text-book for colleges and for the general reader. Geology. PLANTS OF THE COAL. 361 leaves (Fig. 459), reminding us of the yew or the Araucaria, and those with broad, strap-shaped, or tongue-like leaves, with parallel or radiated venation, like that strange, broad-leaved living Conifer, the Ginko (Fig. 463). One of the commonest and most characteristic of this group is the Cordaites. All parts of this plant are known; so that we may restore it with some confidence (Fig. 468). We may imagine a cylindrical, branchless trunk, some- times sixty to seventy feet high, cloth
. Elements of geology : a text-book for colleges and for the general reader. Geology. PLANTS OF THE COAL. 361 leaves (Fig. 459), reminding us of the yew or the Araucaria, and those with broad, strap-shaped, or tongue-like leaves, with parallel or radiated venation, like that strange, broad-leaved living Conifer, the Ginko (Fig. 463). One of the commonest and most characteristic of this group is the Cordaites. All parts of this plant are known; so that we may restore it with some confidence (Fig. 468). We may imagine a cylindrical, branchless trunk, some- times sixty to seventy feet high, clothed atop with long, strap-shaped leaves like a Dracaena, and bearing clusters of nut-like fruits. Many of the fruits represented in the figures on the previous page are from this tree. Affinities of Carboniferous Conifers.—Con- ifers of this time were not typical Conifers. There are no signs of true cones in the coal. All the so-called Conifers of that time bore solitary, nut-like fruits. Now, Conifers of the yew family, and the broad-leaved Ginko, are the only ones that now might be compared with these. These Coni- fers bear solitary plum-like fruits, with large, nut-like seeds (Figs. 461 and 462). The Cycads also bear somewhat similar fruit. The best illustration from the yew family is the California nutmeg (Torreya). It bears a plum-like fruit about the size of a large plum, with a nut- like seed as large as a pecan-nut. It is, therefore, among the yew fam- ily and the Ginkos that we must seek for allies of the coal Conifers. In fact, all gradations in shape of the leaf may be traced between the Cordaites (Fig. 469 a, b) and Noggerathia, of the Carboniferous (c), and Ginkophyllum of Permian (d) to Ginko (e,f) of the Jurassic, and. bear fruits which FlG- (restored by Dawson).. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perf
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgeology, bookyear1892
