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210
The Fairy-Land of Science
·
Arabella B. Buckley
160
Another
famous
tree
which
grew
in
the
coal-forests
was
the
one
whose
roots
we
found
in
the
floor
or
underclay
of
the
coal.
It
has
been
called
Sigillaria,
because
it
has
marks
like
seals
(sigillum,
a
seal)
all
up
the
trunk,
due
to
the
scars
left
by
the
leaves
when
they
fell
from
the
tree.
You
will
see
the
Sigillarias
on
the
left-hand
side
of
the
coal-forest
picture,
having
those
curious
tufts
of
leaves
springing
out
of
them
at
the
top.
Their
stems
make
up
a
great
deal
of
the
coal,
and
the
bark
of
their
trunks
is
often
found
in
the
clays
above,
squeezed
flat
in
lengths
of
30,
60,
or
70
feet.
Sometimes,
instead
of
being
flat
the
bark
is
still
in
the
shape
of
a
trunk,
and
the
interior
is
filled
with
sane;
and
then
the
trunk
is
very
heavy,
and
if
the
miners
do
not
prop
the
roof
up
well
it
falls
down
and
kills
those
beneath
it.
Stigmaria
is
the
root
of
the
Sigillaria,
and
is
found
in
the
clays
below
the
coal.
Botanists
are
not
yet
quite
certain
about
the
seed-cases
of
this
tree,
but
Mr.
Carruthers
believes
that
they
grew
inside
the
base
of
the
leaves,
as
they
do
in
the
quillwort,
a
small
plant
which
grows
at
the
bottom
of
our
mountain
lakes.
But
what
is
that
curious
reed-like
stem
we
found
in
the
piece
of
shale
(see
Fig.
47)?
That
stem
is
very
important,
for
it
belonged
to
a
plant
called
a
Calamite,
which,
as
we
shall
see
presently,
helped
to
sift
the
earth
away
from
the
coal
and
keep
it
pure.
This
plant
was
a
near
relation
of
the
"horsetail,"
or
Equisetum,
which
grows
in
our
marshes;
only,
just
as
in
the
case
of
the
other
trees,
it
was
enormously
larger,
being
often
20
feet
high,
whereas
the
little
Equisetum,
Fig.
52,
is
seldom
more
than
a
foot,
and
never
more
than
4
feet
high
in
England,
though
in
tropical
South
America
they
are
much
higher.
Still,
if
you
have
ever
gathered
"horsetails,"
you
will
see
at
once
that
those
trees
in
the
foreground
of
the
picture
(Fig.
51),
with
leaves
arranged
in
stars
round
the
branches,
are
only
larger
copies
of
the
little
marsh-plants;
and
the
seed-vessels
of
the
two
plants
are
almost
exactly
the
same.
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