350 million years ago, enormous forests of club mosses with scaly stems emerged from ancient wetlands in Atlantic Canada.
However, beneath the canopy sprang even more peculiar trees, the fossils of which were recently found in a Norton, New Brunswick quarry.
One of the researchers who found the fossil, Olivia King, remarked, “What it really looks like is one of those truffula trees from The Lorax.” She brought up a well-known Dr. Seuss picture book, in which colorful, vibrant trees are devastated to make garments known as “thneeds.”
Similar to the truffula, the recently discovered fossil species, Sanfordiacaulis densifolia, stood at a height of around three meters, which was slightly higher than that of an average person. Its spindly stem protruded from a dense mass of long leaves. That mop measured more than five meters, or roughly the diameter of an above-ground pool, making it larger than a truffula.
The fossil was discovered in conjunction with Matthew Stimson, and according to his statement, “it’s different than anything we see today,” a new research detailing the fossil was published in Current Biology on Friday.
