12.2" Fossil Club Moss (Lepidodendron) branch - Kentucky

This is a, 12.2" fossil club moss (Lepidodendron) branch, from the Breathitt Formation, Kentucky. It is from the Late Carboniferous, Pennsylvanian aged forests that formed the coal shales of Eastern Kentucky and Ohio. This specimen is very well preserved and shows great detail. It is the crotch of three branches diverging from one larger one.

Lepidodendron, also called scale tree, is a genus of extinct, primitive, vascular, tree-like plants most closely related to gill worts and and club mosses, that grew up to 98ft (30m) and had trunks a 3.2ft (1m) in diameter.