Bark anatomy of Late Permian glossopterid trees from Antarctica

• Published in: IAWA Journal
• Main Authors: Decombeix, Anne-Laure, Taylor, Edith L, Taylor, Thomas N.
• Other Authors: Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations (UMR AMAP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud ), Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas Lawrence (KU)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: Secondary xylem; Paleobotany; Paleozoic; Secondary phloem; High latitude; Rhytidome; Glossopteridales; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDE.BE.PAL]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology/domain_sde.be.pal; [SDE.BE.BIOD]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology/domain_sde.be.biod; [SDE.BE.EVO]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology/domain_sde.be.evo; Antarctic; Skaar Ridge; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://sde.hal.science/hal-01373198; https://sde.hal.science/hal-01373198/document; https://sde.hal.science/hal-01373198/file/Decombeix%20et%20al%202016%20IAWA%20postprint%20for%20HAL.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1163/22941932-20160146

International audience The Glossopteridales are an extinct group of seed plants that dominated Gondwanan floras during the Permian. Their remains are found across a wide range of habitats and paleolatitudes, and it is particularly interesting to understand the anatomical characteristics that might have enabled such an extensive distribution.Here, we document for the first time the bark anatomy of high-latitude glossopteridalean trees using peels and thin sections made from a Late Permian trunk from Skaar Ridge, Antarctica. The bark is 3 cm thick. The secondary phloem is composed of sieve cells, axial and ray parenchyma, and fibers arranged in discontinuous unicellular tangential layers. The outer bark is a rhytidome, with numerous alternating layers of periderm and non-conducting secondary phloem showing some proliferation of the axial parenchyma. Successive periderms mostly run parallel to the cambium, with some longitudinal undulation and rare connections between two periderms. A similar anatomy was observed in bark fragments found isolated in the matrix or closely associated with large glossopterid stems or roots.The anatomy of the Skaar Ridge specimens shows that Antarctic Glossopteridales had a relatively thick, probably stringy bark. The retention of a significant amount of insulating dead bark tissue on the trunk likely provided protection of the cambium, conducting secondary phloem, and potential latent buds against biotic and abiotic environmental hazards (fire, frost, scalding, insects, etc.) and may have contributed to the extensive paleolatitudinal distribution of the Glossopteridales during the Permian.