This
seed fern from the coal formation represents an extinct glossopterid
flora that once dominated the continent of Gondwana and the Indian
peninsula duruing the Permian (approx. 285 to 245 million years ago). It
is one of the oldest recorded specimens in American paleobotany and is
illustrated in J.D. Dana’s 1849 Geology atlas (pl. 13, fig. 3).
This fossil specimen of Glossopteris reticulum Dana was
collected by Dana in New South Wales, Australia, in 1839, while serving
as a “Scientific” on the Wilkes Expedition, 1838–1842.
The 4-year voyage, commanded by Lt. Charles Wilkes and
officially known as the U.S. South Seas Exploring Expedition, covered
over 87,000 miles, chartered hundreds of Pacific Islands, mapped over
800 miles of the Oregon Territory’s coast and explored 1,500 miles of
the Antarctica coast. Six small ships departed from Hampton Roads,
Virginia, in August 1838. Two of these sailing ships, the Vincennes and the Peacock,
arrived at Sydney Cove, a British colony of New South Wales, on
November 29, 1839, where Dana spent 2 months conducting geological field
studies and collecting many plant fossils.
