Produced by the Population Genetics and Evolution class, Furman University

The Carboniferous: Lebachia
Lebachia is a genus of extinct cone-bearing plants from the order Voltziales. They are believed to be the ancestor of all extant conifers except yews. The cones were both pollen and seed bearing. The male is comparable to a modern male conifer cone, but quite different from the male catkin of the chordaitales. However, the pollen grains are enveloped in a large air sac, like those of chordaites (Harris 1947). The female cone has spirally arranged leaves with fertile shoots know as the “seed-scale-complex.” There is a single megasporophyll, which expands into the base of a terminal ovule. This ovule resembles that of chordaites (Harris 1947). They were generally small trees with an orthotropic stem and plagiotropic (horizontal) branches (Taylor 2009). The branches were arranged pinnately. The leaves are short simple needles, arranged along the axis in spirals with pairs at right angles to one another (as is seen in modern conifers) (Arens 1998).

Page by Megan Aprill
Lebachia piniformis. Photo from: www.paleoportal.org

Taylor C. 2009. Voltziales . www.palaeos.org . Accessed March 2, 2010.

Arens NC. 1998. The Conifers. University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP).Accessed March 2, 2010

Harris TM. 1947. review: The Evolution of the Conifer Cone. New Phytol 46:174-177.