Paleobotany Images

Paleobotany Images

Paleobotany is concerned with the evolutionary and environmental history of plants through the course of geological time. At University of Michigan, museum research in this area started in 1929 with appointment of Chester A. Arnold as a Museum of Paleontology Curator and Botany Professor.
Paleobotanical collections at the University of Michigan contain approximately 15,000 individually–catalogued specimens. This estimate is conservative because an individual specimen may contain more than one leaf, stem, flower, or fruit impression. The collections are strong in Paleozoic vascular plants, especially pteridophytes, progymnosperms such as Archaeopteris, and gymnosperms. These specimens document the rise of seed plants, and early increases in complexity of water- and nutrient- conducting tissues that allowed diversification of the first arborescent (tree-like) growth forms. Early Cretaceous angiosperms, the earliest flowering plants, are also well represented by isolated leaves and dispersed cuticle remains recovered from sediments deposited well before the time when larger portions of these plants are preserved intact. The collections also include important holdings of Cenozoic ferns and angiosperms from the western United States. Among algal groups, we have one of the world’s largest collections of Paleozoic receptaculitids, and the only such collection for which most specimens have associated data on field orientation (critical for assessing the anatomy and growth mode of this problematic group).

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Acer sp., UMMP 73778, Pickett Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho

Acer cf. macrophyllum, UMMP 73778, Pickett Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho

Acer latahense, UMMP 73767, Pickett Creek, Idaho

Acer latahense, UMMP 73767, Pickett Creek, Idaho

Quercus columbiana, UMMP 73739, Pickett Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho

Quercus columbiana, UMMP 73739, Pickett Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho

Quercus prelobata, UMMP 73736, Pickett Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho

Quercus prelobata, UMMP 73736, Pickett Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho

Cissites sp., UMMP 68393, Raton Basin, New Mexico

Cissites sp., UMMP 68393, Raton Basin, New Mexico

Salix wildcatensis, UMMP 73729, Pickett Creek, Idaho

Salix wildcatensis, UMMP 73729, Pickett Creek, Idaho

Cissites sp., UMMP 68354, Raton Basin, New Mexico

Cissites sp., UMMP 68354, Raton Basin, New Mexico

Sequoia affinis, UMMP 33459, Florissant, Colorado

Sequoia affinis, UMMP 33459, Florissant, Colorado

Lomatia lineata, UMMP 12682-B, Florissant, Colorado

Lomatia lineata, UMMP 12682-B, Florissant, Colorado

Fagopsis longifolia, UMMP 12676-B,  Florissant, Colorado

Fagopsis longifolia, UMMP 12676-B, Florissant, Colorado

Fagopsis longifolia, UMMP 8894, Florissant, Colorado

Fagopsis longifolia, UMMP 8894, Florissant, Colorado


More images to come!