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Palaeobotany

A tree without leaves

The puzzle presented by the famous stumps of Gilboa, New York, finds a solution in the discovery of two fossil specimens that allow the entire structure of these early trees to be reconstructed.

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Figure 1: An enigmatic stump.

JESSE EARL HYDE COLL., CASE WESTERN RES. UNIV., DEPT GEOL. SCI.

Figure 2: Two types of Devonian tree.
Figure 3: Trees in time.

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Meyer-Berthaud, B., Decombeix, AL. A tree without leaves. Nature 446, 861–862 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/446861a

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