Fern Fossils

The fossil ferns you see here are not your typical ground ferns or the ones you see in flower pots hanging on someone's porch. The species of ferns pictured came from trees that inhabited the Permian and Carboniferous swamps over 300 million years ago. The assortment of species pictured are the Mariopteris, Eusphenopteris, Nueropteris, Pecopteris, and Peripteris. Their trunks had hollow interiors that filled with sediment forming what is called Fern Rachis pictured. Also pictured is a Spiropteris known as a "fiddlehead" or furled fern frond. These types of fossils are rare finds. The fossilized seed pictured called a Trigoncarpus was produced by one of the "fern trees".