5.4" Red Fossil Leaf (Eucommia) - Montana

This is a 5.4" long, fossil leaf (Eucommia serrata) from the Fort Union Formation of Montana. Eucommia is a genus of small trees now native to China, with a fossil record that shows a much wider distribution.

The color of the rock and the leaves 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 seem "cooked" the rock at sometime in the past. This changed the color and gave it a chalky texture.

There are some small areas of restoration on the leaf fossil.