2.1" Fossil Ginkgo Leaf With Winged Walnut Fruit

Fossil Ginkgo Leaf With Winged Walnut Fruit #58993

This is a beautiful fossil Gingko leaf (Ginkgo adiantoides) associated with a winged walnut fruit (Cyclocarya brownii) from the Sentinel Butte Formation of North Dakota. It is finely detailed and the light preservation contrasts well against the dark orangish-brown rock.

During this time in the Paleocene epoch, the Ginkgo genus was only represented by a single polymorphic species, formerly described as Ginkgo adiantoides. In 2012, the taxon Ginkgo cranei was assigned in place of Ginkgo adiantoides. This species was distributed in much of the northern regions of North America, which had a hot, humid climate at the time. Its leaves were virtually indistinguishable from modern-day Ginkgo biloba. These species of Ginkgo went extinct approximately 7 million years ago.

SPECIES

Ginkgo adiantoides & Cyclocarya brownii

AGE

Paleocene