These Cordaites fossils are preserved with very rare features. One fossil appears to have maintained a woody color and seems almost like petrified wood. Other fossils in this rock have a very fragile black organic-like pieces. It's in a dark reddish purple sandy/silty matrix. It weighs about 1.75 lbs. and was found by the seller in Michigan.

Cordaites (Tree): Carboniferous, Pennsylvanian Subperiod (318 to 299 million years ago)

This plant is an extinct early coniferous tree that grew in the swampy coal forests of the Carboniferous. These trees grew up to 100 feet in height and may have had root systems similar to that of mangrove trees. Cordaites are the leaves of these trees- they were strap like, long and narrow, growing up to lengths of 27 inches and were also very thick and leathery with parallel leaf veins running down the leaf. The term Cordaites only refers to the name of the leaves of this tree. The bark is called Mesoxylon, and the roots are called Amyelon.

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