''Ginkgo huttonii'' is an extinct

Ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants. The scientific name is also used as the English name. The order to which it belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, 270 million years ago, and is now the only living genus within ...

species in the family

Ginkgoaceae The Ginkgoaceae is a family of gymnosperms which appeared during the Mesozoic Era, of which the only extant representative is ''Ginkgo biloba'', which is for this reason sometimes regarded as a living fossil A living fossil is an extant tax ...

from the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The fossil is also known by the name, ''Ginkgoites huttonii'', the genus,

Ginkgoites ''Ginkgoites'' is a genus that refers to extinct plants belonging to Ginkgoaceae. Fossils of these plants have been found around the globe during the Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, with fossils also known from the Paleogene. The name was created ...

, referring to a group of extinct members of the Ginkgoaceae. ''G. huttonii'' was a

broad-leaved A broad-leaved, broad-leaf, or broadleaf tree is any tree within the diverse botanical group of angiosperms that has flat leaves and produces seeds inside of fruits. It is one of two general types of trees, the other being a conifer, a tree with ne ...

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

gymnosperm The gymnosperms ( lit. revealed seeds) are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, ''Ginkgo'', and gnetophytes, forming the clade Gymnospermae. The term ''gymnosperm'' comes from the composite word in el, γυμνό� ...

bearing resemblance to the only living member of the Ginkgoaceae,

Ginkgo biloba ''Ginkgo biloba'', commonly known as ginkgo or gingko ( ), also known as the maidenhair tree, is a species of tree native to China. It is the last living species in the order Ginkgoales, which first appeared over 290 million years ago. Fossils ...

Description

''Ginkgo huttonii'' is known largely by compression fossils of its leaves. Similar to other members of the ''Ginkgoites'', the fossil leaves of ''G. huttonii'' are simple, four-lobed, and have dense, radially disposed venation. ''G. huttonii'' fossil seeds are frequently found as well as at least a few fossilized male catkins. ''G. huttonii'' wood has yet to be described but it is likely the plant was similar to the extant, ''G. biloba'', with wood akin to that of modern-day conifers.

Distribution

''G. huttonii'' is heavily represented in the

flora of

Yorkshire, England Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

- a flora which has been studied in depth since the 1800s. The order Ginkgoales had a wide distribution throughout the northern hemisphere from the

Lower Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, 201.3 Ma ...

through the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

Discovery

''G. Huttonii'' was discovered in the 1800s when excavation began throughout the Yorkshire formation. The fossil was first described by

Oswald Heer Oswald Heer (or Oswald von Heer) (31 August 1809 – 27 September 1883), Swiss geologist and naturalist, was born at Niederuzwil in Canton of St. Gallen and died in Lausanne. Biography Oswald Heer was educated as a clergyman at Halle and ...

References

External links

* http://www.fossilmuseum.net/plantfossils/Ginkgo-huttoni/Ginkgo-huttoni.htm huttonii Jurassic plants Mesozoic trees {{jurassic-plant-stub