3.9" Pennsylvanian Fossil Fern (Neuropteris) Plate - Kentucky

This is a 3.9" fossil seed fern (Neuropteris) plate, from the Breathitt Formation of Leslie County, Kentucky. This specimen comes from the Late Carboniferous, Pennsylvanian aged forests that formed the coal shales of Kentucky and Ohio.

Neuropteris is an extinct genus of fern that reproduced from seed as opposed to sporophyte reproduction of most modern ferns. As with most seed ferns, Neurodontopteridaceae grew in tree form.