period: Carboniferous (358.9-298.9 million years ago)

excavation site: Upper Silesia

The presented specimen is a fossil with fern leaves plants imprints. Ferns evolved into a myriad of forms in Carboniferous: from herbaceous, trailing and creeping plants to tree-like and shrubby forms. They were present in all types of carboniferous swamp habitats. Two groups of ferns can be specified – cryptogams and spermatophytes. In modern flora only cryptogam ferns can be seen, their morphological forms still highly diverse. Spermatophyte ferns became extinct at the end of Mesophytic era around 100 million years ago. What a pity.

The piece comes from the collection of Polish Academy of Sciences Museum of the Earth in Warsaw.