Is it harder to collect a prehistoric plant "puzzle" than to find "Dragon Balls" with a radar?

In the process of fossilization, it is difficult to preserve the fossils completely due to various reasons. Especially for giant trees, although they are much harder than animals, their fossils are often scattered into many parts, such as leaves, bark, fruit, trunk, roots, etc. Putting them together as a whole is sometimes even more difficult than searching for dragon balls around the world with a dragon ball radar.

Dragon Ball Radar in the animation "Dragon Ball" (Picture from the Internet, please delete if infringed)

Therefore, in paleobotany, individual organs are often established as "morphological genera" to connect them from point to line, determine the species classification of plants, and restore their original form. For example, roots are classified as "root genus" and the fossils formed are called root fossils. What I share with you in this issue is the root fossils of the extinct lepidodendron.
Lepidodendrons are one of the main plant groups in the Carboniferous period. They are very tall, reaching more than 30 meters, similar to today's trees. Their root fossils are usually long tubular, with some smooth surfaces, some uneven, and some like hemp ropes, covered with spirally circular or elliptical holes.

Fossils of the phyllodes of Lepidoptera in the Museum

After death, the roots are sometimes gradually infiltrated and replaced by minerals during the decay process, and preserved as coal cores. By the way, coal cores are nodules formed by carbonates of calcium, magnesium, and iron in coal-bearing rock strata. The surface is usually covered with coal skin, which can preserve the organs and structures of plants in three dimensions, intact and detailed. But in most cases, most root fossils are not solid fossils of the roots themselves, but molded fossils formed after decay, that is, after the roots decay, the cavities remain in the original position and are filled with sediments. Usually, it is difficult to see the root fossils connected to the trunk. The main reason is that the roots of the trees are under the soil and the trunks are above the soil. The first step in the formation of fossils is to be buried. Therefore, only when separated from the trunk part can the roots be buried alone. Similarly, the rotten roots are unable to support the trunk part, so the trunk fossils are often rootless.

When the lepidolophus were still alive, their root systems spread horizontally with the trunk as the center. This form was adapted to the humid environment. Studies of the root base fossils preserved as coal cores showed that they contained vents that allowed them to remain functional even under low-oxygen conditions. These two characteristics show that the main living environment of the lepidolophus was swamps.

Root system of lepidolophus (picture from the Internet, please delete if infringed)

Swamps are not only ideal places for the formation of fossils, but also excellent environments for the formation of coal. Therefore, fossils of scaly wood roots can often be found in coal-bearing rock formations, becoming a landmark for finding coal mines.

The tall lepidolites brought an era of lush vegetation and unprecedented oxygen content to the Earth during the Carboniferous Period. Although they have long since become extinct, they at least created the glory of the first global coal-forming period in Earth's history. Even more than 200 million years later, we are still enjoying their fruits.

Carboniferous environmental restoration map (picture from the Internet, please delete if infringed)