Gorgeous Dawn Redwood Fossil Frond from Tranquille Shale

Description: This Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia) fossil is a genus that lives on today, though this was unknown until the first living specimens were discovered in China in 1944. The Tranquille Shale from which this fossil comes has been acquired recently by the B.C. government, and declared a heritage site. As a consequence specimens like this that were collected from before the declaration will become increasingly in demand as no further material will be available. The beauty of the fossil speaks for itself.

Coming from the Tranquille Shale in British Columbia, Canada, this Eocene plant fossil plate represents 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.