In a startling discovery that seems straight out of a children’s book, scientists have unearthed fossils of an ancient tree species in Norton, New Brunswick, which bear a striking resemblance to the whimsical truffula trees depicted in Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax. Named Sanfordiacaulis densifolia, this peculiar species thrived approximately 350 million years ago, predating even the dinosaurs.
The find, which emerged from a quarry, adds a new chapter to our understanding of the Earth’s ancient landscapes. Olivia King and Matthew Stimson, graduate students at St. Mary’s University in Halifax and researchers at the New Brunswick Museum, made the discovery. They were initially searching for early animal tracks in quarries, which are rich sites for paleontological discoveries due to the constant exposure of fresh rock.
The animated Dr. Seuss film The Lorax (and its controversial tie-ins) and the Oscar-winning football documentary Undefeated.
Sanfordiacaulis densifolia stood just a little over three meters tall, modest by modern tree standards, but it’s the tree’s extraordinary canopy that has captivated scientists. Extending over five meters in diameter, the fossil reveals a “dense mop of long leaves,” a feature that suggests this ancient species had adapted to maximize sunlight absorption in the dense prehistoric forests of what is now Atlantic Canada.
The significance of the find extends beyond its unique morphology. The researchers’ work, detailed in a study published in Current Biology, suggests that forests during the Mississippian period, part of the early Carboniferous, were more complex than previously thought. This period was a critical time in Earth’s history, marking the burgeoning diversification of plant life on land.
Olivia King, a researcher at St. Mary’s University and the New Brunswick Museum, discovered the fossil with her colleague Matt Stimson at Sanford Quarry in Norton, N.B. (Matt Stimson)
The discovery of Sanfordiacaulis densifolia offers a rare glimpse into the structure of ancient forests, hinting at a layered ecosystem with a rich understory beneath towering club mosses and above swampy grounds. The preservation of this fossil, with its trunk, branches, and leaves intact and in three dimensions, is particularly remarkable, offering paleobotanists like Robert Gastaldo from Colby College and Adrian Park from the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development unprecedented insights into the evolutionary experiments of early terrestrial plants.
Prof. James Basinger, a paleobotanist at the University of Saskatchewan, who is not a co-author of the study, stands next to a part of the fossil. The tree trunk and attached leaves are exposed. The fossil leaves extend beyond the edges of the block, which was removed and trimmed before transport to the New Brunswick Museum. (Patrica G. Gensel)
While the ancient landscapes of the Mississippian era were filled with life forms experimenting with various survival strategies, Sanfordiacaulis densifolia represents a “failed experiment” in plant evolution, according to King. Despite its eventual disappearance from the fossil record, the discovery underscores the dynamic and ever-changing nature of life on Earth.
The contribution of the quarry owner, Laurie Sanford, in facilitating the excavation and transport of the fossil to the New Brunswick Museum, where it now resides, is also acknowledged in the naming of this ancient species.
