#tree slice

Landscape Language

Dendrology (noun) – the study of trees and wooden plants

Mount Rainier’s snowy peak attracts a lot of attention, but 58% of the park is covered by forest! Dendrology is the study of trees. One aspect of dendrology is using tree rings to determine the age of trees. Tree rings can also provide clues as to the growth conditions of the past, such as when droughts occur, allowing scientists to get an idea of past climates.

Dendrology is also used in archaeology, helping to date artifacts, or in geology. Some debris flows at Mount Rainier, such as the 500-year-old Electron Mudflow, have been dated in part by using dead trees found in the debris! You can try your hand at dendrology the next time you are in Longmire by looking at the large tree slice located outside of the Longmire Museum. What can it tell you about the past?

Tree bracelet with petrified wood jasper 🌲 available here. Sold!

Monkey puzzle tree fossil slice (araucaria) - genuine specimen - madagascar triassic certificated

All of our Fossils are 100% Genuine Specimens & come with a Certificate of Authenticity

Name: Auracaria sp

Specimen: Monkey Puzzle Tree Slice

Age: Triassic

Location: Madagascar

Scale cube=1cm: Full sizing please see photo

Plants were just as important millions of years ago as they are today, if not more so, as these were the organisms that gave our planet life, and helped sustain it! The first oxygen creating organism was an algae, which singularly spread across our planet & slowly oxygenised the air. Plants were soon to evolve from this algae & helped flourish the land, creating a liveable planet for future animals to roam, & provide a powerful food source for those animals to graze upon. Without plants the earth may have been an extremely different place to what we know today, & their fossil remains have helped us piece together one of the most important factors of our existence.