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March 16, 2025
While the Tucson Shows may not have been as productive as we would have liked in delivering a bountiful number of specimens, never underestimate Jim's ability to locate some quality specimens for all of us to own and enjoy! So, there will be more to come ... ----- And don't forget to follow our link below to discover the organization devoted to fossil forests throughout the world - to the people who study them, to the people who collect their treasures, and to news about discoveries. ------ Jim Mills and Beth Myers |
Welcome to Mills Geological quality identified petrified wood and plant fossils from around the globe |
our featured specimen
Ancient conifer (Araucarioxylon sp.)
Mesozoic
Madagascar
** In a word - SUPERB! The market has been flooded with petrified wood from the Malagasy Republic for several decades and it would surprise us if there is anybody out there that does not have the country represented in their collection. But, as you likely already have observed, most of the wood from there is rather bland and uninteresting. So, any slabs we list from Madagascar must be really special with colors and patterns that will appeal to our discerning Mills Geological collector friends. Compare the piece already in your own collection with this beauty and see if you are ready for a reasonable cost upgrade. The pattern in this slab will be the first to catch the eye in any display. Colors are varied and autumnal. Both sides are polished on a wheel rather than a flat lap so that they have a curious hilly character to the surface – proof of provenance! Keep in mind that this is a rather large and heavy slab tipping the scale at just over 5 pounds. But the shipping price will be worth it -- we promise you won't be disappointed with this specimen.
12" x 8.5" diameter on polished faces; 3/4" thick slab $120
Mesozoic
Madagascar
** In a word - SUPERB! The market has been flooded with petrified wood from the Malagasy Republic for several decades and it would surprise us if there is anybody out there that does not have the country represented in their collection. But, as you likely already have observed, most of the wood from there is rather bland and uninteresting. So, any slabs we list from Madagascar must be really special with colors and patterns that will appeal to our discerning Mills Geological collector friends. Compare the piece already in your own collection with this beauty and see if you are ready for a reasonable cost upgrade. The pattern in this slab will be the first to catch the eye in any display. Colors are varied and autumnal. Both sides are polished on a wheel rather than a flat lap so that they have a curious hilly character to the surface – proof of provenance! Keep in mind that this is a rather large and heavy slab tipping the scale at just over 5 pounds. But the shipping price will be worth it -- we promise you won't be disappointed with this specimen.
12" x 8.5" diameter on polished faces; 3/4" thick slab $120
Ancient conifer (Gymnosperm)
Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation (Late Jurassic)
Henry Mountains area, Utah
** Looking for an archetypal specimen to add to your collection? This Henry Mountains specimen is the definition of typical with black and brown highlighted with red agate inclusions along the desiccation cracks. This log was well along towards becoming just vegetative debris on the forest floor when a volcanic event luckily saved it just in time for future petrified wood collectors. That historical analysis should tell you that the structure of this slab is not of the perfection that would send a paleobotanist right to the computer keyboard to write an article. Instead, it would be of more interest to those collectors who value the patterns and color pathways created by bacterial and fungal activity after the tree is dead and down. Fortunately, those bacteria and fungus were stopped dead in their tracks just in the nick of time when buried by volcanic ash in the Late Jurassic. No oxygen meant no more destruction and soon, groundwater carrying silicic compounds along with traces of iron oxides began the process of permineralization. We really love these slabs that tell their own colorful story.
4" x 3.5" on polished face; 7/16" thick slab $59
Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation (Late Jurassic)
Henry Mountains area, Utah
** Looking for an archetypal specimen to add to your collection? This Henry Mountains specimen is the definition of typical with black and brown highlighted with red agate inclusions along the desiccation cracks. This log was well along towards becoming just vegetative debris on the forest floor when a volcanic event luckily saved it just in time for future petrified wood collectors. That historical analysis should tell you that the structure of this slab is not of the perfection that would send a paleobotanist right to the computer keyboard to write an article. Instead, it would be of more interest to those collectors who value the patterns and color pathways created by bacterial and fungal activity after the tree is dead and down. Fortunately, those bacteria and fungus were stopped dead in their tracks just in the nick of time when buried by volcanic ash in the Late Jurassic. No oxygen meant no more destruction and soon, groundwater carrying silicic compounds along with traces of iron oxides began the process of permineralization. We really love these slabs that tell their own colorful story.
4" x 3.5" on polished face; 7/16" thick slab $59
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Rattan Palm (likely Calamus sp.)
Bridger Formation; Eocene Big Sandy Reservoir, near Farson, Wyoming ** A spectacular short length section of a palm also called "cane" palm or "cluster" palm. Great wood anatomy structure (see photomicrograph) when viewed on the polished face end, and a small cavern of wonderful chalcedony stalactites when viewed from the natural end and exterior length shows the node - a feature that indicates it likely had a liana growth habit! What more could you want from a cluster palm? Another very nice specimen from the collection of the late Charles Eastman. There are over 400 modern species of rattan palms assigned to the genus Calamus in the Arecaceae Family of palms. Some of them are liana-type, growing vine-like and climbing other plants with stronger and wider trunks. Others are cluster-type, with several stems growing from a common root mass. Unlike the larger fossil palm trunks from the Big Sandy area, these rattan palms almost never have any algae preserved on the exterior indicating that they have a different taphonomy than the large palm trees. The large palms were immersed in water allowing algae to grow on their exterior while the rattan palms could not have been under water in an environment conducive to algae growth. Oddly and sadly, the term "cane" palm originated from the practice of using sections of these stems for corporal punishment (i.e. "caning”), a practice that still goes on in some schools and military organizations in various Southeast Asian countries. 7/8" diameter on the polished face, 3.75" in length $49 |
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Joshua Tree (Protoyucca shadishii) Virgin Valley Formation, Miocene Badger Flat, Humboldt County, Nevada ** This is a very unusual presentation of one of the scarcest species of petrified wood that one can collect. We have highlighted two separate closeup photomicrographs to demonstrate the point. This Joshua Tree was already dead and down when the volcanic event buried it under a layer of volcanic ash. Note the difference in the structure of the vascular bundles in each picture. In one the vascular structure is well-organized and seems to have been functioning properly but in the other picture you see the vascular structure disorganized and in fact, many small pieces of broken strands seem to predominate. Next notice that there is a wide cavity of white chalcedony that has no remaining anatomical structure. Quite typically, this plant suffered mightily from heartrot - a common problem for monocots since they lack the ability to produce toxins that can ward off fungal attacks. Monocots send 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 fact). And, as you can plainly see, this piece has the added benefit of some beautiful fortification agate! 5" x 3" on polished face; end cut varies from 1/2" to 1" thick $75 |
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Araucaria Family (Araucariaceae)
Chinle Formation, Sonsela Member; Triassic
Long H ranch, near St. Johns, Arizona
** Fabulous pattern suggestive of the radial grain - and a feathery pattern that you can see from across the room! What looks like annual growth rings are more likely to be periodic drought rings. The environment during Chinle Time of the Triassic was quite sub-tropical - warm and wet but of course, droughts happen and cause a temporary cessation of growth. Please note that there is a tiny bit of edge damage at the 6:00 o'clock position. It is easier to see on the unpolished back side and not so much on the polished front side. However, it is a bit of damage and thus resulted in a real bargain price from the cutter. We are passing that savings along. In the absence of any edge damage this slab would command a price at least twice what we are able to ask. And it is gorgeous by the way.
9" x 7" on polished face; 5/8" thick slab $55
Chinle Formation, Sonsela Member; Triassic
Long H ranch, near St. Johns, Arizona
** Fabulous pattern suggestive of the radial grain - and a feathery pattern that you can see from across the room! What looks like annual growth rings are more likely to be periodic drought rings. The environment during Chinle Time of the Triassic was quite sub-tropical - warm and wet but of course, droughts happen and cause a temporary cessation of growth. Please note that there is a tiny bit of edge damage at the 6:00 o'clock position. It is easier to see on the unpolished back side and not so much on the polished front side. However, it is a bit of damage and thus resulted in a real bargain price from the cutter. We are passing that savings along. In the absence of any edge damage this slab would command a price at least twice what we are able to ask. And it is gorgeous by the way.
9" x 7" on polished face; 5/8" thick slab $55
Juniper (Juniperus sp.)
Kalamazoo Creek Tuff Formation, Oligocene
Cherry Creek, Nevada
** Before reading the rest of this description, be sure and click on the photo for a more expansive view of this piece of simply unparalleled beauty in both color and pattern. Each time we look at this spectacular slab we see something we missed previously – and we think that you will too. It is a marvelous piece of petrified juniper from the well-known Cherry Creek area in Nevada. The colors are every bit as rich as your monitor is displaying! It shows some outstanding growth rings, several different rich red hues of color, several small vugs lined with blue chalcedony, and a simply beautiful pattern that combines all of these features into a stunning specimen. If you have a Cherry Creek slab already in your collection, we recommend giving this one a close look as it may well be an upgrade for you. It is a manageable size for most any collection that does not have (or does have!) the Cherry Creek location well represented.
Cherry Creek is a classic petrified wood locality from which beautiful wood like this is becoming increasingly hard to find on the market. Once upon a time, we had several slabs from this locality to offer, but in recent years, we have not been able to acquire any gorgeous slabs such as this one. In fact, this is the slab that we sold to Charles Eastman well over 15 years ago and we recently acquired it back from his estate. This slab is truly a work of art - nature at its best -- and the polish is exquisite!
As we alluded to previously here, through the years we have replaced specimens in our collection with a “better one” (interpreted as a slab or limb that appealed to us more) and this might be the case with you if you are lucky enough to own a Cherry Creek Juniper at the moment.
11" x 4.5" on polished face; 3/8" thick slab $325
(immediately qualifies for our 10% discount on orders totaling over $200)
Kalamazoo Creek Tuff Formation, Oligocene
Cherry Creek, Nevada
** Before reading the rest of this description, be sure and click on the photo for a more expansive view of this piece of simply unparalleled beauty in both color and pattern. Each time we look at this spectacular slab we see something we missed previously – and we think that you will too. It is a marvelous piece of petrified juniper from the well-known Cherry Creek area in Nevada. The colors are every bit as rich as your monitor is displaying! It shows some outstanding growth rings, several different rich red hues of color, several small vugs lined with blue chalcedony, and a simply beautiful pattern that combines all of these features into a stunning specimen. If you have a Cherry Creek slab already in your collection, we recommend giving this one a close look as it may well be an upgrade for you. It is a manageable size for most any collection that does not have (or does have!) the Cherry Creek location well represented.
Cherry Creek is a classic petrified wood locality from which beautiful wood like this is becoming increasingly hard to find on the market. Once upon a time, we had several slabs from this locality to offer, but in recent years, we have not been able to acquire any gorgeous slabs such as this one. In fact, this is the slab that we sold to Charles Eastman well over 15 years ago and we recently acquired it back from his estate. This slab is truly a work of art - nature at its best -- and the polish is exquisite!
As we alluded to previously here, through the years we have replaced specimens in our collection with a “better one” (interpreted as a slab or limb that appealed to us more) and this might be the case with you if you are lucky enough to own a Cherry Creek Juniper at the moment.
11" x 4.5" on polished face; 3/8" thick slab $325
(immediately qualifies for our 10% discount on orders totaling over $200)
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Laurel Family (Laurinoxylon sp.)
Yegua Formation; Eocene Madisonville area, Madison County, Texas ** There is spectacular anatomical preservation in this specimen! The Lauraceae Family has 45 genera and over 2800 species - a truly bewildering variety within a single family. To make matters worse for wood anatomists, there are large groups of species in which the wood anatomy is nearly identical despite the fact that the reproductive structures (flowers, seeds) are different enough to divide them into species. As a consequence, wood anatomists have erected the taxon Laurinoxylon as a convenient way to simply lump them together into more workable groups (some workers have proposed four different groups but the defining characteristics are not all seen in the transverse plane). This Eocene Texas specimen shows some of the main characteristics of Laurinoxylon very nicely. They include indistinct growth rings, diffuse porous (evenly spaced vessels), vasicentric parenchyma (that is the white ring or glow on the periphery of each vessel), vessel density in the range of 5 to 20 per square millimeter, and vessels both singular and in multiple radial groups of two and sometimes three. The fossil species Laurinoxylon eocenicum has been described in the literature from Yellowstone National Park but the distance between Wyoming and Texas and the time lapse between Yegua and Lamar River Formations make it highly likely that this specimen would be accorded a different species epitaph. There are some obvious differences between the two species - the Yellowstone specimens have considerably smaller vessels and wider rays while the Texas specimens have considerably larger vessels, and their narrower rays seem to wander around the vessels in wavy rather than straight lines. The Yegua (loosely pronounced “yay-oh-wa”) Formation records a time of periodic sea level fluctuations and it was likely during one of the lower levels of the oceans that this log was trapped in the delta and covered with sediments carrying quantities of volcanic ash. It was this volcanic ash that provided the silica to petrify the wood. During other periods of the Yegua, the log would have floated out into the Gulf of Mexico, waterlogged, and ended up on the continental shelf where it would have slowly rotted away. So, good luck for us petrified wood collectors that the Yegua had a low sea level occasionally! There is much to recommend in this specimen and we congratulate in advance the lucky collector who nabs this one. 6.5” x 4.5” on polished face; 3/4” thick slab $65 |
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Undetermined Root (Incertae sedis)
Tertiary Chimney Creek, Nevada ** This is a wonderful display specimen! It is a main root with numerous root protuberances now seen as bumps and swellings emanating from the main axis. Most of the material recovered at Chimney Creek Reservoir is root, not stem, and this section is no exception. Growth habits of roots generally preclude sending rootlets in the direction of the sky, a phenomenon caused by both gravity and the relative difference between soil moisture above and below the main root axis. We are told by the collector that this specimen came from an area a bit north of the traditional Chimney creek locality at the edge of the reservoir. We love the display quality of the piece with perfect polish on the cut face and outstanding character along the exterior. 1.75" in diameter on the polished face, 6” long section $35 |
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