Description

Pseudosalix handleyi Boucher 2003
Eocene
Green River Formation
Douglas Pass, CO, USA

Outstanding 360mm x 300mm plate with a full flowering branch and other leaves. Extremely rare. We have literally had more T. rex teeth than fossils like this

Fossil flowers are often challenging to interpret. In many cases they can’t be identified definitively unless attached to the entire plant, but by their very nature you almost never find fossil flowers preserved that way. This fossil is the rare exception. It’s the only example we have ever had of whole-plant preservation so the leaves, stems and flowers are all preserved together.

See: Boucher, L et al., An extinct genus of Salicaceae based on twigs with attached flowers, fruits, and foliage from the Eocene Green River Formation of Utah and Colorado, USA, American Journal of Botany (September 2003), 90(9):1389-1399