| Fossil leaves from the upper Miocene Mehrten Formation locality near Columbia State Park, Gold Country, western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, California. Left--Specimen at left in photograph is from what paleobotanists call Nyssa elaenoides, the Miocene variety of today's Black tupelo; leaf at right in the image is called Rhus mensae, the Miocene counterpart of the modern laurel sumac. Photograph courtesy a specific technical document. |