Sandstone cast of Lepidodendron trunk, Garden of Dalclathie, Manse Road, Kilsyth, Stirlingshire

BGS image ID: P002561

Garden of Dalclathie, Manse Road, Kilsyth, Stirlingshire. Sandstone cast of Lepidodendron trunk, said to be derived locally from the Limestone Coal Formation. Originally, the tree would have fallen over and been surrounded by sand which filled the hollow rotted out core of the trunk and preserved its shape. Trees such as these Lepidodendrons contributed most of the carbonaceous material which accumulated to form the coal seams in the Carboniferous. The trees grew in tremendous profusion in the moist sub-tropical climate enjoyed by Scotland at that time.

BGS old photograph No: C04090

Date of photograph: 1954

Bob McIntosh

Fossil wood from Tasmania collected by Sir Joseph D. Hooker in 1840

BGS image ID: P776111

Tamrin fossil tree; Microscope slide from the Sir Joseph D. Hooker Collection, BGS.

This slide is of piece of fossil wood from Tasmania collected by Hooker in 1840. The Expedition leader, James Clark Ross recorded that the fossil trees were found encased in ancient lava flows and were preserved as 'most beautiful agate'. Age: Tertiary Period, 40 million years old.

From Collection A: Joseph Dalton Hooker collection. Hooker's collection comprises material collected during his 1839-1843 circum-Antarctic voyage in HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. 

Bob McIntosh