Sigillaria

genus of plants in the class Isoetopsida

Sigillaria is a lycopod fossil of the late Carboniferous and early Permian.[1] They were typical coal forest trees similar to the Lepidodendron. These swamp forest trees grew to 50 meters. They were anchored by an extensive network of branching underground roots.[2]

Remains of a Sigillaria tree, Stanhope, County Durham, UK
Fossil tree-root of lycopod

It was a lycopod, an early land plant. This was one of the trees which made up the Carboniferous coal-forests.

It had thin grasslike leaves that grew on the stem. The stem of the plant was green. Sigillaria reproduced with spores. It went extinct about 300 million years ago.

References

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  1. Taylor T.N. & E.L; Krings M. 2009. Paleobotany: the biology and evolution of fossil plants, p303–307. 2nd ed, Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-373972-8
  2. Brittannica [1][permanent dead link]