Article: The structure of Vertebraria indica Royle

Pulls of carbonised substance of Royle's type of V. indica and 250 other axes referable to the same species have been studied. The other specimens were collected from the Raniganj and Giridih coalfields (Permian; Upper Damuda Group, Gondwana System). They all show the same kinds of secondary xylem, large parenchyma, and phloem-like cells. The different kinds of pitting and their frequency in the tracheids, the frequency of uniseriate rays of different heights, their length, and the range of variation in xylem character, have been determined. It has been found that characters of xylem described for V. raniganjensis are within the range of V. indica and this species may be regarded as a synonym of V. indica. None of our several axes of V. indica shows any trace of pith.