The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USScientists recently made an intriguing discovery: trees from 350 million years ago that looked like they belonged in “Dr. Seuss’s imagination” and were “unlike any” found in today’s world. Through research on a fossilized tree species called Sanfordiacaulis from New Brunswick, Canada, scientists uncovered a unique three-dimensional crown shape. Typically, tree fossils are only preserved with their trunks. However, in a pioneering study using a fossil from millions of years ago that had preserved its leaves, scientists found similarities between ancient trees and palm or fern trees.Researchers were astounded by the way this tree produced exceptionally long leaves around its slender trunk and the sheer number over a short length— a phenomenon that defied their expectations of what a tree should look like.Developmental Biologist Prof Gastaldo added, “We all have a mental concept of what a tree looks like, depending on where we live on the planet, and we have a vision of what is familiar.” “The fossil on which we report is unique and a strange growth form in the history of life,” he continued. “It is a form that seems to be short-lived and one of evolution’s experiments during a time when forest plants underwent biodiversification.”The preservation of the crown leaf is another characteristic that distinguishes these ancient tree fossils. According to the researchers, any fossil tree with an intact crown is rare in the history of life. They also suggest that the tree likely used its unusual growth form to maximize the amount of light it could capture and reduce competition with other ground plants. The unique ancient tree fossils provide evidence that plant life in the Early Carboniferous period was more complex than previously believed. The researchers suggest that Sanfordiacaulis lived at a time when plants were “experimenting” with a variety of possible forms or architectures. These unusual fossils are a reminder that millions of years ago, trees existed that looked radically different from any seen today. Prof Gastaldo summarized, “Evolutionary mechanisms operating in the deep past resulted in organisms that lived over long periods of time, but their shapes, forms, growth architectures, and life histories undertook different strategies.”
