SUPERB Polished Pennsylvanian Tree Fern Trunk Section

Description: Sections of tree fern trunks are highly prized for their beauty. Tree ferns have been around since the Late Carboniferous, and persist to this day, earning them the term “living fossil”. The “trunk” is composed of many vascular elements that supply the plant with water and nourishment, making for a most pleasing overall effect. This is an essentially complete trunk section which shows the adventitious roots of the fern in great detail. It has been polished on one side to show off the interior to best advantage. The vascular strand of a young plant would divide, and adventitious roots would then surround the stem to provide support, allowing additional stems to grow alongside. Members of the genus lived in wet environments as well as ground subject to periodic drying. They flourished into the Permian, to become extinct in the later Permian when the climate became too hot and dry in many places for it to exist.