XVI International Botanical Congess

Taxodiaceous seedlings from the Paleocene of Canada occur with Metasequoia-like remains. Structural differences among fossil seedlings were compared to developmental differences among living seedlings of Metasequoia, Sequoiadendron and Taxodium to interpret the growth of the fossil species. Development of the living seedlings is used as a model for fossil seedling growth. Characters scored for seedlings include cotyledon number and size, branch length, number of leaves on a branch, and size of leaves on stems and branches. This is the first attempt to study development of taxodiaceous conifer seedlings.