This plate displays a well-preserved fossilized pollen cone belonging to the species Metasequoia occidentalis. This is the male inflorescence.
The genus Metasequoia, also known as the dawn redwood, is a living fossil. This tree genus was initially known only from fossil records until a living relic of this fossil was discovered in China in 1941. The extant species Metasequoia glyptostroboides is not evergreen. In winter, the short shoots of the dawn redwood turn reddish-brown like those of deciduous trees and are shed. |
