The Ferns are Growing!

[Bguild]

Well... I seem to be turning into a Rhode Island native at this point. This past weekend I was able to head down to Cory's Lane for an afternoon of digging. Here's my latest find from the Carboniferous period. This fern still needs to be cleaned up a bit and I'm still trying to nail down an exact ID. At just over 3 feet long this is now my biggest and most complete find to date (1-upped myself again). More pics to come once I finish cleaning this guy up.

 

P.S. This was definitely not fun to carry back to the car .

 

 

 

I couldn't save the entire second half of this fern as it was partially destroyed when I ripped up the 8 foot slab of rock this fossil was on. I did manage to save the middle section at least!

 

[FossilDudeCO]

maybe not fun to carry, but that is a gorgeous piece! Thanks for sharing with all of us!

 

[paleoflor]

Spectacular specimen.

[ynot]

[aerogrower]

Beautiful... well worth the carry back to the car!

[Miocene_Mason]

Another one! Now this makes me feel inadequate... 

Keep up the good work!

[Rockin' Ric]

Nice!

[Ludwigia]

What a wonderful frond!

[deutscheben]

Holy cow, that is a centerpiece! 

[Darktooth]

Very nice plant!

[Peat Burns]

[caldigger]

Three feet long...holy mackerel!  The comment about having difficulty hiking it back to the car brings up an important point.  That's why you should always go fossil hunting with a buddy ( to carry half the load of course!).

[Bguild]

16 minutes ago, caldigger said:

Three feet long...holy mackerel!  The comment about having difficulty hiking it back to the car brings up an important point.  That's why you should always go fossil hunting with a buddy ( to carry half the load of course!).

 

The biggest problem was that it took me so long to cut the slab down to size and get it out that by the time I was ready to go the tide had come in. It was also a wet walk back to the car . Definitely need to start brining a second set of hands haha

 

 

[Pagurus]

Wow, that's quite a find, Barret. It beats my fern from there by a foot, at least. You've really made that site your own now, and you deserve it. Good work!

Mike

[FossilDAWG]

  

 

Don

[Fossil-Hound]

 Excellent fern.

[Fossildude19]

[Wrangellian]

Holy cr....

Museum piece for sure.

[gavialboy]

That's a awesome fossil. Congrats.

[Bguild]

Thanks everyone! I'm still a bit stumped as to what ID to assign to this fern. Right now the leading contender is Pecopteris lepidorachis. Any ideas?

 

P.S. It's taking forever to coat each of these pinnules in PVA solution, but I'm about halfway done and the fern is looking great so far! The PVA solution should help preserve the imprint long-term (Plus it highlights the imprint as an added bonus)  . 

[CBOB]

That is spectacular!  What a find!  Museum piece for sure!  I'd offer to be your "helper" on your next trip but I live outside Chicago so a bit far.  Congrats on a great find!

[RJB]

Nicer than most!  Great find!

 

RB

[Plantguy]

Yep, Incredible find. Do you have a clear closeup (of the pinnule base attachments)? Might be someone out there that can ID it with that level of detail. 

 

Regards, Chris 

[Bguild]

On 8/18/2017 at 9:57 PM, Plantguy said:

Yep, Incredible find. Do you have a clear closeup (of the pinnule base attachments)? Might be someone out there that can ID it with that level of detail. 

 

Regards, Chris 

 

I'm adding a post about this to the Fossil ID section.

[Bguild]

I was able to get in contact with one of the local experts on Rhode Island fossils. After a bit of discussion we determined the ID of this tree fern to be Pecopteris sp. 

 

As promised here is an image of the cleaned up fossil. This is after it has been coated in PVA solution to help preserve the imprint. The solution also does a nice job of highlighting the fossil .