Fossil Club July: The earliest known Sequoia fossil is from the Potomac Group

Join us for this engaging talk from Fossil Club member Valerie Horn as she explores her citizen science project researching the unique locally found sequoia fossils.
The giant redwoods are iconic trees whose height and age inspire awe, but their fossil history is unclear. At our local MNCPPC Dinosaur Park in Prince George’s County, small sequoia-like cones are abundant. They were described in a limited way a hundred years ago and have been mostly ignored since. Dr. Horn and her co-authors have re-evaluated these cones, along with the associated twigs and foliage. Phylogenetic analysis of their morphology shows that the species is a member of Sequoioideae. Its presence in the Early Cretaceous Potomac Group makes this fossil the earliest known sequoia.