Birch,
Sassafras and Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia occidentalis) Plant Fossils
Birch: Division
Magnoliophyta, Order Fagales, Family Betulaceae, Genus Betula
Sassafras: Division Magnoliophyta, Class Magnoliopsida, Order Laurales,
Family Lauraceae, Genus Sassafras
Dawn Redwood: Division Pinophyta, Order Pinales, Family Cupressaceae,
Genus Metasequoia
Geological
Time: Middle Eocene
Size (25.4mm=1
inch): Shale is 160 by 80 mm
Fossil Site:
McAbee Quarry; Cache Creek, Tranquille Shale, Kamloops Group, British
Columbia, Canada
Fossil Code:
CP30
Price: $30.00
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from the Tranquille Shale in British Columbia, Canada, these middle
Eocene plant fossil plate represent some of the defining events
of Paleobiology in the Tertiary. The Eocene was a period when flowering
plants continued a massive radiation that began in the Paleocene
Epoch. Plants thrived, and with that many animals, as new environmental
niches were filled. The first grasses appeared with growth near
the root as opposed to the tip, providing a renewable food resource
and place of refuge for many animals. Small mammals radiated. Many
new species of shrubs, trees and small plants appeared. A variety
of trees thrived in a warm Eocene climate, including beech, elm,
chestnut, magnolia, redwood, birch, and cedar, and more. The evolution
of plants was providing a powerful selective pressure across the
entire animal Kingdom, and many new symbiotic systems appeared.
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