XVI International Botanical Congess

Three plant fossil localities from the late Famennian Toe Head Sandstone Formation at the type area of Toe Head, West Cork, southern Ireland have yielded good carbonised compressions. The assemblage consists of three distinct components (1) Disarticulated vegetative and fertile examples of the progymnosperm genus Archaeopteris, (2) Megaphyllous leaves of a sphenopteris type, (3) Cupulate preovules Archaeopteris dominates and two species are present Archaeopteris hibernica and Archaeopteris macilenta. Plants are preserved in a very finely laminated grey mudstone. This horizon has been interpreted as representing quiet deposition in ephemeral lakes or ponds within a coastal plain environment.