Fossils: Tell it to the trees
A spectacular fossilized tree gives an unprecedented insight into the appearance of the world’s earliest forests.
William E. Stein and colleagues found their fossil tree in Schoharie County, New York. It stood at least eight metres high with fern-like branches, a long trunk and small anchoring roots. Its crown belongs to a previously known plant taxon, the cladoxylopsid Wattieza. But its trunk and base match a different group, named Eospermatopteris.
The evolution of trees was fundamental to the Earth’s terrestrial ecosystem. And until now, the earliest-known evidence of forests came from fossil tree stumps found in Gilboa, New York, that are about 385 million years old. The trees were designated Eospermatopteris but their aerial portions were missing. The new find sheds light on their possible full appearance.
CONTACT
William E. Stein (State University of New York, Binghamton, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 607 777 4391; E-mail: stein@binghamton.edu
Albert Gnidica (Media Relations, New York State Museum, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 518 474 0068 or +1 518 474 8730; E-mail: Agnidica@mail.nysed.gov
Brigitte Meyer-Berthaud (CIRAD-CNRS, Montpellier, France) N&V author
Tel: +33 4 67 61 75 22; E-mail: meyerberthaud@cirad.fr