OBJECT DOSSIER · SMITHSONIAN OPEN ACCESS

Tree fern — Pecopteris strongii

SAGE Museum Deep Time scientific dossier

Artist / Creator

Woudloper

Date / Period

Carboniferous — Middle Pennsylvanian · Approximately 309 million years ago in the Mazon Creek fossil context.

Object Type

leaf

Medium

original_fossil

About This Object

Geologic period: Carboniferous — Middle Pennsylvanian

Age: Approximately 309 million years ago in the Mazon Creek fossil context.

Feeding: Photosynthetic plant.

Body plan: Fern-like frond with pinnules and preserved venation.

Evidence: Pecopteris strongii is documented from Mazon Creek, whose fossil flora dates to approximately 309 million years ago.

Why it matters: Plant fossils reveal the architecture of ancient forests and help reconstruct Carboniferous ecosystems that animal fossils alone cannot show.

Plain Language Identity: A Carboniferous fern-like plant fossil identified as Pecopteris strongii.

What You Are Looking At: A fossil frond or leaf preserving the shape, pinnules and venation of Pecopteris strongii.

Formation: Francis Creek Shale / Mazon Creek fossil deposit

Find Location: Northeastern Illinois, United States

Preservation: Leaf fossil.

Open Questions: The preserved frond must remain distinct from reconstruction of the entire living plant.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/paleobiology/collections-overview/mazon-creek-fossil-flora

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Pecopteris strongii

Evidence / representation: comparative_pecopteris_visual

Why It Is In This SAGE Exhibit

comparative_pecopteris_visual

Reading Deep Time: How Rocks, Fossils and Time Become Evidence.

Provenance

Smithsonian Deep Time source scene: Fossil Basecamp Education Center 2

Visual source institution: Wikimedia Commons

Exhibition History

Included in the SAGE Museum Dinosaurs & Deep Time staging exhibit.

Collection & Credit

Media license: Public domain

Subjects & Themes

Pecopteris strongii Carboniferous — Middle Pennsylvanian leaf Fossil Basecamp Education Center 2 Reading Deep Time

ORIGINAL COLLECTION SOURCE

This object page stays inside SAGE Museum. The Smithsonian link below is provided only as the original scholarly collection record. It opens separately.

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