2.6" Red Fossil Leaf (Rhamnites) - Montana

This is a 2.6" long fossil leaf (Rhamnites cleburnii - formerly Rhamnus sp.) from the Fort Union Formation of Montana. Rhamnites is a genus of about 110 accepted species of shrubs or small trees, commonly known as buckthorns in the family Rhamnaceae. Its species range from 1 to 10 meters tall (rarely to 15 m) and are native mainly in east Asia and North America

The color of the rock and the leaf is rather unusual, and different than most of the leaves seen from the Fort Union Formation. They were collected from a locality where a fire in a nearby coal seam "cooked" the rock at sometime in the past. This changed the color and gave it a chalky texture.

The leaf has some small areas of touchup work done to it where some of the leaf had flaked onto the negative when split.

This leaf comes with an acrylic display stand.