Article: A species of compressed lycopod sporophyll from the upper Coal Measures of Somerset

Compression fossils of a new species of Lycopod sporophyll, Lepidostrobophyllum alatum, are interpreted in terms of their compression history. Three superficially different types of fossil are assigned to the same species as a result of this interpretation. These, it is suggested, are determined by the original orientation of the sporophylls in the sediment prior to compression; either upright, inverted, or lateral. The species has an alated pedicel, and the evolutionary significance of this is discussed.