How to recognise them

The bark of this fossil tree has a distinctive pattern formed by lots of diamond-shaped leaf scars.

Fossil Info

Lepidodrendon is an extinct plant in the lycopsid family that lived in swamps during the Carboniferous Period about 360 - 300 million years ago. They were called scale trees and could grow up to 50 m tall with trunks over 2 m across at the base. Most of their branches were at the top of the tree and had oval cones (like pine cones) at their tips.

Fun Fact

Even though this plant grew to over 50 m it was not a true tree - it didn't have woody tissue. Because of this, they were often knocked down by storms.