Wood

Wood comes from trees.

Fossilised wood often shows the structure of the wood.

This shows a slice through a branch, showing the tree rings. Size: 42mm

This wood is from the Jurassic period, about 160 million years old. It is from Peterborough. Size: 110 mm

This tree stump is one of several in the Fossil Grove, in Victoria Park, Glasgow. The trees are an extinct type of plant known as scale trees or lycopods, rather than true trees. They are so-called, because of the scale-like markings left on the trunk and brnaches when the leaves fall off. Scale trees grew to a height of 45 metres with a straight trunk and crown of branches. Inside, the trunks were filled with a soft pith rather than being hard and woody. The closest living relatives of scale trees are small plants known as club mosses.

The Fossil grove dates from the Carboniferous age, 330 million years ago. The fossils were discovered in 1887 when the rock garden of Victoria Park was being created in a disused quarry. They were excavated, and a building added to protect them. They are still in their original position and the site is open to visit at certain times of the year.

This looks like fossilised wood, but in fact it is a banded form of the mineral baryte and not a fossil at all. It is from Youlgreave, Derbystone. Size: 82mm