Available evidence presented here supports the approach by MUSSA (1978) that Vertebraria ROYLE really comprises a complex of forms. Schopficaulia n. g. is a distinct new unit which presents external morphological characters similar to Vertebraria, but whose anatomical plan clearly represents aerial vascular organs, such as branching woody axes showing adventitious rootlet traces and undifferentiated branch or foliar traces. The pith is unquestionably indicative of plants of the runner, climbing or shrub type adapted to a swampy environment. The fact that vertebrarian-type axes are restricted to Gondwanic coal fields is consistent with the environmental interpretation inferred from the pith plan. All indications substantiate the viewpoint that the plants lived at the very site where they were later fossilized.
