This exhibit is a fragment of a fossilized lepidodendron (or scale tree), an extinct plant with scale-like bark. The sample from the collection of the Sayanogorsk Museum of Local Lore is distinguished by clearly visible scale prints. One side of it bears a noticeable salt granular deposit.

Scientists found out that scaly traces appeared on the trunk in the process of the lepidodendron growth, when the long leaves of the plant fell off. The traces are clearly visible on the fossil. These diamond-shaped scales help to estimate the age of the plant. Lepidodendron (Latin: Lepidodēndron) was an extinct genus of tree-like lycophyte plants that existed in the Carboniferous period. They formed part of the flora of the so-called carbon forests in the wetlands of tropical territories.

The Carboniferous period was one of the longest periods of the Paleozoic era. At that time, the oxygen level in the atmosphere was significantly higher than modern indicators, many areas were swamped, plants did not decompose completely and turned into deposits of coal. The height of the lepidodendron, according to paleobiologists, ranged from 10 to 35 meters, and the trunk diameter could reach 1 meter.

Studies have shown that the upper part of the trunk of such a plant was richly branched; many leaves grew on it, connected to the surface of the lepidodendron directly, without petioles. These plants grew in small groups and their life was quite short — 10–15 years.

Lepidodendrons, being lycophytes, propagated by spores at the end of the life cycle. They can be considered relatives of fern-like plants. Unlike lepidodendrons, many representatives of ferns have survived to the present, for example, ostrich fern (forest species) or indoor adiantum.

Lepidodendron had special organs that performed the functions of roots — stigmaria, from which appendages also branched off. Lepidodendron had no branches, only the trunk and foliage. In the Mesozoic period, this species completely disappeared, giving way to more advanced representatives of the flora.