Nitella leptosoma Charophyte

 

This is a drawing of an oogonium of the algae Nitella leptosoma (Nordstedt, 1880). It was from plate 3 of the book Australasian characeae by Otto Nordstedt Part 1 1891. The habitat of this plant is in bogs at Omatangi, near Tampo, New Zealand (about 600-900 meters above sea level).

Otto Nordstedt (1838-1924) was a Swedish botanist who obtained a medical degree from Lund University and later became a botanist specializing in algology. He became a professor at Lund University and retired at the age of 84. The book I scanned the above images from belonged to Dr. James Conkin (1924-2017) who was professor at the University of Louisville and studied charophyte fossils. At a recent geology meeting after giving a presentation about the Louisville fossil collectors Henry Nettelroth and Dr. James Knapp, his daughter presented this book to me. Below is image of what appears to be a Harrisichara (Grambast, 1957) charophyte fossil found by Dr. Conkin at Isle of Wright off the coast of England. See full posting about at this link.

 

Polished Slabs at Carnegie Museum

To begin 2012, a tack away from fossils will be taken temporarily for some geological eye candy. The Hillman Hall of Minerals of Gems at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History has a beautiful display of illuminated mineral slices. This posting shows just a few so you will need to visit Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in person to truly appreciate the beauty of these specimens. The first is an agate and amethyst piece from Brazil. Followed by another Brazilian piece of "bullseye" agate.

This next is is of a cross section of fire opal from Mexico.

This multi-shaded purple specimen is a piece of rhodochrosite from Argentina.

The following image is of an agate from Brazil.

This next picture is of a nephrite jade found in New Zealand.

The last image is of liddicoatite from Madagascar.