11/25/2023 0 Comments Metasequoia fossils![]() ![]() ![]() Metasequoia has bark and foliage that resemble the California redwood, but it is actually more like the bald cypress (the state tree of Louisiana) because it's deciduous, will thrive in standing water, and older specimens form wide buttresses on the lower trunk. This ancient redwood is a fast growing tree in the conifer family. Though critically endangered, living Metasequoia trees can be found today. There is only one type of Metasequoia alive today. This plant prefers moist, deep, well-drained soils that are slightly acidic. Pin branchlets are paired, and drop as a unit. It has spreading branches that droop with age. Seeds were collected and brought back to the United States for propagation, and seedling trees were distributed to various universities and arboretums worldwide for growth trials. Metasequoia trees today are living fossils, having changed very little since its late Cretaceous ancestors. This is a large, fast-growing, deciduous, pyramidal evergreen tree that grows up to 100 tall with attractive, feathery foliage that is easy to transplant. Metasequoia (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) was considered long extinct until paleontologists discovered living 100-foot Metasequoia trees in a remote area of China in 1944. Metasequoia flourished in North America in the Miocene age (5 to 25 million years ago) and left a fossil record embedded in rocks across the Oregon landscape. occidentalis, dated to about 90 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period are known throughout the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. In 1941, Miki published the description of the fossil plant which he gave the name Metasequoia. Fossil representatives of the genus Metasequoia such as M. Oregon designated Metasequoia, or dawn redwood, as the official state fossil in 2005. The fossil of this genus was discovered by Shigeru Miki in 1939. ![]()
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