A New Look at the Carboniferous Lepidodendroid Stem Genus Sublepidophloios Sterzel

The Carboniferous arborescent lycophyte genus Sublepidophloios Sterzel is a genus of lepidodendroid stems that has been overlooked by many authors. The genus has some intermediate characters between the very much more common genera Lepidodendron Sternberg and Lepidophloios Sternberg, and it is timely to reinvestigate the validity of the genus. After reexamining Sterzel’s original illustrations for his new species Sublepidophloios hagenbachensis and a number of specimens of other species, we are confident that Sublepidophloios is a discrete genus. Some of these specimens are adpressions, while others are preserved three-dimensionally in clay ironstone, giving a clear picture of the leaf cushions as they must have appeared in life. Some even show some internal anatomy of the leaf cushions. The recognition that Sublepidophloios Sterzel is a valid genus and that several other species can be referred to it expands our ideas of the range of leaf cushion morphology in the arborescent lycophytes