Description

Early Cretaceous
Santana Formation – Crato Member
Aripe Basin, Brazil
152mm cone with stem (60mm cone) on 205mm
Cone, Gymnosperm.

Araucaria is a genus of evergreen conifers that includes the modern monkey puzzle tree.  It dates back to the Middle-Late Jurassic, which was the time when dinosaurs were dominant around the world and the supercontinent, Pangaea, was starting to break up.  Araucaria would become well established across the world during the Cretaceous but its range became restricted to the southern hemisphere by the early Cenozoic.

This is a fine cone preserved with its stem still connected.