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"'Feejee Mermaid' has become the generic term for the many fake mermaids that can be found around the world..."
This article contains information relating to a hoax. According to Cambridge dictionary a hoax is "a plan to deceive a large group of people; a trick." |
Lepidodendron is an extinct genus of early vascular plants belonging to the order Lepidodendrales. It is well-represented in the fossil record and commonly preserved.
Description[]
Like other members of Lepidodendrales, Lepidodendron species grew as large, tree-like plants in wetland coal forests, sometimes reaching heights of 50 meters (160 feet) with trunks over 1 meter (3 feet 3 inches) in diameter.
These plants are often called "scale trees" due to their bark, which was covered in diamond-shaped leaf bases from which leaves emerged in earlier growth stages. More accurately, however, they are classified as arborescent lycophytes. They thrived during the Carboniferous Period (358.9–298.9 million years ago) and persisted until the end of the Permian, around 252 million years ago. Although sometimes incorrectly referred to as "giant club mosses," they were more closely related to modern quillworts. In paleobotany, "Lepidodendron" refers both to the whole plant and specifically to its stems and leaves.
False Sightings[]
A false sighting of the tree
Starting in 2023, "sightings" of Lepidodendron trees have become a popular and humorous trend on TikTok and other social media platforms. This trend began with a meme circulating since 2021, which humorously suggested that encountering the extinct Lepidodendron tree in real life might mean a “rip in the fabric of time.” The idea resurfaced and gained significant popularity on TikTok in 2023, with users filming trees or even lamp posts, claiming these as Lepidodendron sightings, often accompanied by dramatic music and playful captions suggesting time-travel scenarios. Videos referencing Lepidodendron sightings on TikTok feature users pretending to discover the ancient tree, jokingly alluding to the idea that they might be experiencing a temporal anomaly. Most of these videos clearly show modern trees or objects that don’t resemble Lepidodendron at all.
True sightings of Lepidodendron trees are scientifically impossible, as this genus has been extinct for roughly 250 million years, with no known remnants of their lineage surviving past the Permian period. Unlike some ancient organisms that left descendants we can still observe (e.g., certain fish or invertebrates), Lepidodendron species did not leave any direct descendants; they were part of a unique, now-vanished family of arborescent (tree-like) lycophytes.