Geol. Pl. -æ. [mod.L., f. STIGMA, in reference to the marks or scars on the fossil: see below.] A former genus of fossil plants, whose remains are found abundantly in the coal-measures; they consist of branching bodies, covered with regularly arranged depressions or scars, and are now commonly believed to be the roots of Sigillaria and possibly other trees, the scars being the points of attachment of the rootlets. Also attrib.
1845. Lyell, Trav. N. Amer., I. 84. I was curious to know whether the Stigmariæ would be found here in the underclays.
1846. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., IV. 274. The fossil plant known as stigmaria was the root of a sigillaria.
1851. Mantell, Petrifactions, i. § 2. 37 fig., Erect stem of Sigillaria with Stigmaria-roots; in a coal-mine in Nova Scotia.
1885. Geikie, Text-bk. Geol., VI. II. iv. § 1 (ed. 2), 728. There can be little doubt … that Stigmaria was a type of root common to more than one kind of tree.
Hence Stigmarian a., belonging to, or containing remains of, Stigmaria; Stigmarioid a., resembling Stigmaria.
1855. J. Phillips, Man. Geol., 218. This is the under-clay—the stigmarian bed.
1902. Ann. Bot., XVI. 559. The vascular branches of Stigmarian rootlets.
