Conifer (Pinales Order)
Grassy Mountain Formation Early to Middle Pliocene Grassy Mountain, Malheur County, near Vale, Oregon ** We expect the material from Grassy Mountain to become very scarce in the near future - gold mining is about to commence and the area will become a giant open pit mine. Any petrified wood will be buried in spoil piles or be crushed along with the rest of the gold ore. A sad ending to a fantastic petrified wood locality. This is an incredibly beautiful agatized specimen from that noted Grassy Mountain locality, which has arguably produced some of the most colorful specimens in the entire world. Growth rings are outlined by the mustard yellow colors swirling around the light blue agate center of what must have been a hollow log. 5.5” x 3.4” on polished face; slab varies from 3/8" to 5/8" thick $90 |
Limb cast (Incertae sedis)
John Day Formation, Oligocene John Day area, Grant County, Oregon ** Note the green dendrites in the rind! A beautiful limb cast from the John Day area in Oregon. We don't see a lot of material from John Day because many of the private ranches that once produced petrified wood have been acquired by the National Park Service. The John Day Formation is the source of enormous collections of fossil plant materials and many of those sites have been preserved in the John Day Fossil Beds National Park. We were lucky to get this piece which was collected on private lands years ago, before the park was authorized and the private ranches were acquired by the Federal Government. It is cut in stand-up fashion with parallel cuts on both ends of the cast. It thus stands up nicely in a display case. The rind has a lovely hue of green with dendrites. This cast also features excellent character along its length. 2.5" X 2" on the polished face; 4" long stand-up cut $49 |
Laurel (Laurinoxylon sp.)
Palm Spring Formation, Pliocene Yuha Basin, Imperial County, California ** You may have a great limb of laurel "ironwood" in your collection. You may have even purchased it from us! There are some fantastic character pieces from this location, and we love them for that, especially when they exhibit defined knots like this one does. But this piece has another special trait: it is a complete round with the center and growth rings showing on each end of the specimen. The vast majority of this material is simply chunks and shards of larger trunks, so it is quite special to find a complete round like this one. This wood has been called “Ironwood” by rockhounds for at least 50 years. It is not the same species as the ironwood that grows today in the deserts of the southwest, but apparently was given the name by early rockhounds because it rings like iron when tapped with a hammer. Even the most novice of observers can immediately recognize this specimen as petrified wood. Better in 3D than in our flat photograph, and especially nice to hold in your hand. 3” x 1.5” on the larger end cross section; 4" long limb section $65 |
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Joshua Tree (Protoyucca shadishii)
Virgin Valley Formation, Miocene Badger Flat, Humboldt County, Nevada ** This is a rare wood offer, and you know that we don't "throw around" the designation of rare. Joshua Tree is one of the most scarce species of petrified wood that one can collect (others include Ginkgo, Mennegoxylon, and Trochodendron). You may have seen a few pieces on offer here on our website, but that is because we got lucky, and not because Protoyucca is becoming more common. Joshua Tree is a monocot - it sends up only one cotyledon from the seed rather than two - and silicified petrifications of monocots are very rare in the fossil record (palm is the single exception to this). A lot of the Joshua Tree suffered from heart rot (typical for monocots) and the centers were all gone before petrification started. Since it is a monocot, it does not have annual growth rings. Instead, it has an inner primary cylinder and an outer secondary cylinder. The specimen we offer here is entirely secondary cylinder. Most of the fossil Joshua Tree is mineralized in colors of gray and white. This specimen is a bit different in that it has a much richer color palette. Even better, this piece was from very close to the bottom of the trunk and has a couple of rootlets - see the closeup above with the round structure. This is a nice specimen of a rare wood. 3.75" x 3" on polished face; 3/8" thick slab $98 |
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Brecciated petrified dicot wood (Incertae sedis)
Tertiary South Fork Crooked River, Oregon ** Well, we simply love all the wood -- including the weird and wild pieces. This one certainly qualifies as weird and wild. This log was definitely dead and down and being attacked by weather, fungus, and any other wood destroying process. We can determine that it was an angiosperm dicot - see our photomicrograph showing the little vessels. But, the preservation has been compromised and there is not enough of a large patch left to make any determination other than "not a conifer." Of course, the Latin Incertae sedis translates into "we simply cannot determine taxonomic affinity" (who knew that Latin could simplify things so well??) The odd thing about this specimen is that the path of destruction seemed to be somehow restricted to the medullary rays and it must have happened rather quickly since it spread all the way to the center before having an opportunity to move laterally away from the rays themselves. A really odd circumstance! The result is this brecciated effect which isolates individual strands of wood in between corridors now filled with chalcedony. The natural side of this end cut (photo top right) is pretty interesting as well. If you collect the weird and the wild specimens, as we do, this one will demand a place in your collection! 8" x 4.5" on polished face; end cut varies between .25" and 1.75" $180 |
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Primitive Conifer (Araucarioxylon arizonicum)
Chinle Formation, Triassic Patton Ranch, near Holbrook, Arizona ** Spectacular slab comes from the Patton Ranch which is located immediately adjacent to the west boundary of the Petrified Forest National Park. Consequently, it has exactly the same mineralization as the deposits in the park that are called “Rainbow Forest beds,” an apt name for wood this colorful. Rich reds predominate but the yellow, black, purple and white accents make the whole thing truly a rainbow of color. Simply gorgeous piece of wood along with a story from (perhaps) America’s most classic locality. Keep this for yourself, or consider gifting it to someone who appreciates naturally beautiful petrified wood! 10” in diameter on polished face; 1/2” thick slab $79 |
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Limb Cast (Incertae sedis)
Clarno Formation Eocene Paulina, Oregon ** This is a highly unusual specimen that features both rhyolite and chalcedony filling the once empty mold created by the limb. The result is a very handsome, colorful display specimen with its own story to tell. The white parallel lines in the chalcedony are called "Uruguay Banding" and they are created by gravitational sedimentation of gelatinous silicic particles. This kind of banding can be found in flood basalts like that of the Columbia Plateau but are much more common in thundereggs than they are in limb casts. So, seeing them in this specimen is quite special and quite rare. There is not sufficient preservation of the woody portions to determine a family or genus. The Eocene was a volcanically-active time in what is now the state of Oregon. Forests must have developed on volcanic soils only to be destroyed later by volcanic activity which simply provided the fodder for more volcanic soils to develop and thereby subsequent forests. Sounds a lot like Mount Saint Helens and the other Pacific Rim volcanoes of present day forest and ash successions. What a great story for such a fantastic looking specimen! 6” x 5” on the polished face; 1" thick slab $115 |
Conifer (Pinales Order)
Andesite and Basaltic overlapping flows Middle Miocene near Ironside, Oregon ** Once upon a time, we had some Black Locust slices from this locality and speculated that it might have been a single tree locality. Now we know that there were more since this is a conifer from the same place. Ironside is really just a wide spot in the road between Brogan and Cow Valley, Oregon. All of the collecting sites in this area were likely single trees in the alternating and overlapping flows of Andesite, Basalt, along with an occasional rhyolite towards the top of the strata column. It has not been named as a specific formation but it is identified as a separate lithologic unit on the USGS National Geologic Map Database. Charming small slab with nicely patterned rot pockets -- from an Interesting locality. Be sure to click for the close-up! 4.25" x 3" on polished face; 3/16" thick slab $46 |
