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Stems of Calamites

Calamites suckowii

Calamites suckowii

Diafragma of a horsetail tree

Calamites suckowii
Graissessac (Fr),  Stephanian.
Height of the photo 20 cm.

Detail of the photo on the left.
Just below the node are small oval scars.
These are remains of infranodal canals.

Diaphragm of a stem of Calamites.
At a node the cavity in the trunk was interrupted
by a radially lined diaphragm.
Piesberg, Westfalian D. Diameter 5 cm.

Casts of the central pith-cavity of the trunk are very common fossils of Calamites. They are characterized by the articulation and the vertical ribbing between the nodes. The ribs are the imprints of the vascular strands.

Species: (click)
Calamites cistii: Internodes (sections between two nodes) mostly longer than broad. No branch scars at the nodes.
Calamites suckowii: Internodes mostly broader than long. No branch scars at the nodes.
Calamites undulatus: Ribs with a zigzag pattern. Internodes mostly broader than long. Sometimes small circular branch scars at the nodes.
Calamites carinatus: Internodes longer than broad. Two large opposite branch scars at the nodes.
Calamites schutzei(formis): At some nodes small branch scars, separated from each other. Internodes not of equal length: the smallest above the ring of scars, the following ones increasing in length, till the next ring of scars.
Calamites goeppertii: Internodes broader than long, about equal in length. At some nodes a closed ring of branch scars.

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