Alexander J. Hetherington

Binney

Christopher M. Berry

Frankenberg

Karrfalt

Leavitt

Leclercq

Lemoigne

Liam Dolan

Logan

Renault

Scott

Stopes

Thomas

Williamson

Significance
          Coal swamps were the carbon burial factories of the Carboniferous period, forming huge coal deposits and driving climate cooling. The Carboniferous forests were also home to the first giant (&gt;50 m) trees to grow on the planet. These trees were anchored by a unique structure termed a stigmarian system, which is hypothesized to represent a leafy shoot modified to function as a root. Here, we report the discovery of the complex, highly branched rootlet structure of these trees. Our findings demonstrate that rootlet architecture is conserved from the giant extinct trees of the Carboniferous to the small extant herbs of today’s flora.</jats:p

Crossref

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Networks of highly branched stigmarian rootlets developed on the first giant trees

Networks of highly branched stigmarian rootlets developed on the first giant trees

Abstract

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