strobiluslike

Strobiluslike is an adjective used in botany and paleobotany to describe a structure that resembles a strobilus, the cone-shaped or spindle-shaped reproductive axis found in many non-flowering plants, notably pines, other conifers, and some lycophytes. The term is descriptive rather than taxonomic, indicating similarity in form or organization rather than homology.

Such structures may occur in living plants with non-cone reproduction, or in fossils where complete strobili are not preserved. Strobiluslike features typically involve a central axis with arrangements of sporophylls (scale-like leaves bearing sporangia) or other elements that aggregate into a compact, elongated unit. The degree of likeness can range from superficially cone- or spike-shaped clusters to more exact condensations of repeatedly arranged sporophyll-bearing segments.

In practice, strobiluslike morphology is used to discuss plant groups where the reproductive units resemble cones but arise from different developmental pathways, or where the fossil record shows strobilus-analogous forms. It is common in paleobotany when interpreting unisolated sporangial clusters in early land plants or seedless vascular plants with conelike sporangiophores.

Difference from a true strobilus: a strobilus is a defined reproductive structure in which sporangia are produced in a repeated, organized manner along a central axis; strobiluslike simply notes resemblance, not necessarily homologous origin.

See also: strobilus, cone, sporophyll, sporangium, paleobotany.