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Please take a closer look at each specimen by clicking the photo. Then just click anywhere outside that closeup box to close that view and return here. |
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Conifer
Wind River, north of Carson, Washington Eagle Creek Formation Lower Miocene ** Excellent definition of growth rings in a slab from a locality not often seen in petrified wood collections. Notice the excellent spike knot at the 4:00 o'clock position on the face. A knot is a portion of a branch or limb which has been surrounded by subsequent growth of the stem. A spike knot is a knot whose face is on the edge of a piece off wood and "spikes" or tapers toward the pith. For wood cutters and modern lumbermen, a spike knot can be a troublesome weakness, but for fossil wood collectors, spike knots are a fascinating and aesthetic reminder of the history of the live tree. Much of the wood from this unique locality is too soft and porous for polishing so we are fortunate to have acquired this slab out of an old collection which took a fine mirror finish polish. We have not seen material of this excellent quality from this locality for quite a while and suspect that it is now only available from old collections such as the one that contained this specimen. Don't let the dark color fool you; this is a gorgeous specimen. 8" x 6.5" on polished face; 1/2" thick slab $239 (immediately qualifies for our 10% discount on orders over $200) |
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Cherry (Prunus sp.)
Miocene, Trout Creek Formation Bretz Airport Site McDermitt, Nevada/Oregon ** This is a classic member of the Prunus genus from McDermitt's Bretz Mine Airport site. There are several features that really appeal to us. It has very well-preserved woody fine structure (please see our photomicrograph, good definition of growth rings, a very pleasing pattern in several shades of brown and tan plus an interesting pattern that contians the center of the log. It is immediately obvious, even to a novice, that this is petrified wood. That's a good thing, whether you exhibit your collection at shows or just in your living room! We generally identify the site as McDermitt, Nevada, which is both the closest inhabited place as well as the access point to the dirt roads leading to the diggings. However, the diggings are just across the border in Oregon (Malheur County), but it takes a GPS to find that out. There are no signs on the dirt roads announcing "Entering Oregon." 5" x 4" on polished face, 3/8" thick slab $47 |
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Pepper (Schinoxylon actinoporosum)
Laney Shale Member, Green River Formation, Eocene Blue Forest, Wyoming ** Well, it took more than a single photo to show you what a fascinating forked limb section this is! This forked limb is cut and polished on both ends and can stand up perfectly for display on the unforked end, or it can be displayed sideways so that both polished ends can be seen along with the wonderful bubbly agate covering the entire length. We don’t see a lot of these limbs with a fork branching off -- and it is even less often that we see both ends of the fork polished and the unforked end also polished and a classy coating of bubbly agate on the exterior. This is a character-filled beauty! 1.25” in diameter on polished face of main branch; .75" in diameter on smaller end of the fork. 3.5” long (or tall) limb section $49 |
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Palaeosmunda williamsii
Upper Permian Coal Measures Blackwater, Queensland, Australia ** Neat little end cut! Fossil wood sites out of the Permian, whether fern or conifer, are fairly scarce worldwide. After The Brazilian material (Araguaina) and the German material (Chemnitz) the list of localities gets very slim very quickly – Blackwater QLD is one of the short-list localities. This transverse section from the “false trunk” is a slice of an ancient ancestor of today's family of Osmundaceae Family plants. (Note that the prefix spelling of this species follows the Australian "Palaeo," rather than the American version of "Paleo.") The spirally-arranged leaf traces get larger toward the outside of the trunk. This attractive specimen has colorful pale blue agate emphasizing those frond traces! The increasing number of fronds sprouting out of the crown of the fern tend to "push" the older fronds outward and create what is known as a "false-trunk." ++++++ Modern Osmundas are temperate-zone ferns that have large masses of sporangia that ripen uniformly at the same time to a showy golden color. Since the ferns look as if they are in flower during this state, the genus is sometimes called the "flowering ferns." 3” x 2.5” on polished face; end cut up to 3/4" thick $45 |
