Excellent Mazon Creek Clubmoss Tree Bark Section
with Interior Preservation

Description: The Mazon Creek deposits of the region near Braidwood, Illinois rival the other famous Lagerstatten of the Burgess Shale, Solnhofen, and Liaoning for the variety of detailed life preserved. Many exquisitely-preserved specimens are found in the ironstone nodules that make up the deposits. Lepidodendron is the name given to a giant Lycopod or scale tree which formed an important part of the coal swamps of the late Carboniferous which grew to heights in excess of 40 meters. The leaf scars make it easy to see how the name scale tree was derived. The different scarring shapes and patterns are what is used to distinguish the various species of Lepidodendron. This distinctive pattern is most pleasing to the eye. Unlike most examples that only show a section of the bark, this one displays the interior of the tree in a preservation termed Knorria. Plant nomenclature is unusual in that many parts of a tree were found independent of each other, and so were given individual names, resulting in a plethora of names for the same plant, a most confusing state of affairs.