Glossopteris Plant Experts Out There?

[Plantguy]

Hey Gang,

I know many of you have seen or probably possess some of the very colorful Glossopteris sp. fossil leaf plates from the Permian coal measures, Dunedoo, New South Wales, Australia. Many of the leaves show excellent detailed veination as this one does below.

But, several of the leaves show many very small raised circular structures all over the leaves.

Can any one tell me what they are? I thought they were some type of spore casing at first but I read that these seed ferns had individal structures for spores and seeds separate from the leaves? Maybe I need to continue researching. Any quick answers? Thanks!

Regards, Chris

[Plantguy]

I just viewed that 2nd photo in this thread and when you magnify its pretty bad--circular stuff is there but hard to see. It didnt apparently convert well from the 8 mg original. I'll try again tomorrow. thanks for your patience. Regards, Chris

[micropterus101]

I just viewed that 2nd photo in this thread and when you magnify its pretty bad--circular stuff is there but hard to see. It didnt apparently convert well from the 8 mg original. I'll try again tomorrow. thanks for your patience. Regards, Chris

I am no plant expert but those circular marks could be stomata?.

.

Edited May 6, 2010 by micropterus101

[RomanK]

Hey Gang,

I know many of you have seen or probably possess some of the very colorful Glossopteris sp. fossil leaf plates from the Permian coal measures, Dunedoo, New South Wales, Australia. Many of the leaves show excellent detailed veination as this one does below.

But, several of the leaves show many very small raised circular structures all over the leaves.

Can any one tell me what they are? I thought they were some type of spore casing at first but I read that these seed ferns had individal structures for spores and seeds separate from the leaves? Maybe I need to continue researching. Any quick answers? Thanks!

Regards, Chris

Hi Chris, You know I'm not the Permian man, I got only petrified Glossopteris wood from Antarctica,

but I think Micropterus is right:

"Glossopteris schopfii is characterized by narrow, elongate meshes, bundle sheath fibers, prominent phloem lacunae, papillar epidermal cells with straight margins and simple, longitudinally-oriented stomata. In contrast, G. skaarensis has broad polygonal meshes, a distinctive hypodermis, epidermal cells with sinuous margins and irregularly distributed, sunken stomata. These stomata are surrounded by a well-defined ring of subsidiary cells with beak-like papillae. The variety of anatomical detail demonstrated by these forms illustrates the diverse nature of glossopterid-bearing plants and underscores the value of permineralized peat to the study of Gondwana plants." - quote from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V6W-48BM2R8-J7&_user=10&_coverDate=11/01/1990&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1324554216&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=5ed316895b28efd4a54b57fc6362ec34

You've got very good specimen by the way. Roman

[Plantguy]

Micropterus and Roman thanks for the replies. You have me researching more to see what sizes the stomata could grow to. Nothing specific yet. I thought stomata were mostly microscopic in size?---very very tiny breathing structures. Some of these are approximately 1mm in diameter.

Here's another picture of the same leaf just flipped around 180 degrees....a little better shot but not much.

An Antartic specimen---very nice Roman!

Regards, Chris

Edited May 7, 2010 by Plantguy

[Terry Dactyll]

Chris.... other than a colony of spirorbis I have no idea.... they seem to randomly placed for seeds of anysort.....

[RomanK]

Chris.... other than a colony of spirorbis I have no idea.... they seem to randomly placed for seeds of anysort.....

Possibly Steve is right, Chris, compare the rings

[flyguy784]

Possibly some sort of fungal damage.