Prehistoric Plants

[stemturtle]

We continue the tread from DTF v1: Prehistoric Plants, wondering what 2013 will bring.


COLLECTA Cycadeoids 2012
Williamsonia (13 cm.).  Jurassic - Cretaceous. Height 2 to 3 meters.
Monanthesia (9 cm.) and Cycadeoidea (4 cm.). Cretaceous.  Height to 2 meters.


COLLECTA Hypsilophodon  and Koreaceratops Families 2012.  Trees are not identified.

The Hypsilophodon tree (4 cm.) looks like a tree fern.  The base can be connected to Williamsonia
The Koreaceratops tree (3 cm.) resembles a cycadeoid or possibly a cycad.  The base can be connected to Monanthesia and Cycadeoidea.

Cycadeoid is an informal name for the order Bennettitales, also called Cycadeoidales. Triassic – Cretaceous.  Cycadeoids may be mistaken for cycads, which are order Cycadales. 

Cretaceous cycadeoid fossils were over-collected from a site south of the Black Hills, South Dakota, misnamed Cycad National Monument, 1922 – 1957.  Deauthorization of monument status at the request of the National Park Service resulted from the lack of visible fossils and failure to fund construction of a visitor center.   Kirk Johnson reported this tale in the book, "Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway," available on Amazon.

[ITewan]

Nice pictures! I am thinking of getting those Koreaceratops now!

[Bokisaurus]

Very nice. I hope that you will be able to add some of the pictures from your old thread, it would be cool to see them all together again here in one thread. There were some from your collection ( I believe converted) that are super cool!

[stemturtle]

Bokisaurus asked for photos from the original thread.  Good suggestion.   The CollectA Tree & Plant Collection and Safari Prehistoric Landscapes are featured, in hope that there will be future additions.  A few new comments follow.


COLLECTA, Tree & Plant Collection, 2009
Ginkgo biloba (10") is a living fossil. The genus began in the Jurassic. Height 115 to 164 feet.
Cycad (12"). Jurassic. Based on Pseudoctenis lanei. Height to 50 feet.


WILD SAFARI, Prehistoric Landscapes, 2011
Tree Fern, Cycad, Agathis Conifer.

Tree Fern (5") specified as Jurassic, height to 65 feet.
Mauro-Raptaor86 posted that it is based on Psaronius, Carboniferous to Permian.

Cycad (4") Triassic – Cretaceous, height to 50 feet.
Mauro-Raptaor86 wrote that it was inspired by Pentoxylon. Cycads are Permian to Recent.

Agathis Conifer (6.75") common in Jurassic and Cretaceous, height to 150 feet.
Araucarioxylon includes fossil logs in the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona.

[Mauro "Raptor86"]

The new Playmobil Dinos series has some nice "prehistoric" plants, too!

[stemturtle]

The new Playmobil Dinos series has some nice "prehistoric" plants, too!

Forum members are encouraged to post photos.  Playmobil 5235 Dimetrodon with water hole is not available yet in the USA, but is sold now in the UK at amazon.co.uk.

[SBell]

The new Playmobil Dinos series has some nice "prehistoric" plants, too!

Forum members are encouraged to post photos.  Playmobil 5235 Dimetrodon with water hole is not available yet in the USA, but is sold now in the UK at amazon.co.uk.

It's terrible, we always have to wait one year behind Europe for Playmobil releases--which means you can check out the .de site an dknow what's coming a year from now (hence, forewarning about the cool Stone Age line for this year...).

But mostly, I want the plants and small reptiles. The kids can have the dinos.

[stemturtle]

It's terrible, we always have to wait one year behind Europe for Playmobil releases--which means you can check out the .de site an dknow what's coming a year from now (hence, forewarning about the cool Stone Age line for this year...).

But mostly, I want the plants and small reptiles. The kids can have the dinos.

Thanks for the tip, SBell.  Playmobil Deutschland Online Shop shows several pictures of sets that include plants.  Stone Age is Steinzeit.  Children and grandchildren are happy to get dinosaurs without the accessories.

[SBell]

It's terrible, we always have to wait one year behind Europe for Playmobil releases--which means you can check out the .de site an dknow what's coming a year from now (hence, forewarning about the cool Stone Age line for this year...).

But mostly, I want the plants and small reptiles. The kids can have the dinos.

Thanks for the tip, SBell.  Playmobil Deutschland Online Shop shows several pictures of sets that include plants.  Stone Age is Steinzeit.  Children and grandchildren are happy to get dinosaurs without the accessories.

Well, we've derailed enough, however the Stoneage was released last year in Europe, and is out now in North America.  Given their record, the dinos should be in NorAm next spring.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

I wanted to clarify something if you do not mind Stemturtle. I was looking at the new plants for this year and considering. I had purchased the family of Koreaceratops as somewhat of a accompanying piece to my Psittacosaurus skeleton as the animals are quite similar in general. I was pondering getting one of the large plants that came out this year...and reviewing your post, I am led to understand either would align well with the koreaceratops family, but only one with the hysphilodons? So a person could get both to use with the Koreaceratops family but NOT the other set correct?
  I know the thread states this, but I am wishing to confirm it before throwing money out there and getting something that would not lock into my purpose.

[stemturtle]

I wanted to clarify something if you do not mind Stemturtle. I was looking at the new plants for this year and considering. I had purchased the family of Koreaceratops as somewhat of a accompanying piece to my Psittacosaurus skeleton as the animals are quite similar in general. I was pondering getting one of the large plants that came out this year...and reviewing your post, I am led to understand either would align well with the koreaceratops family, but only one with the hysphilodons? So a person could get both to use with the Koreaceratops family but NOT the other set correct?
  I know the thread states this, but I am wishing to confirm it before throwing money out there and getting something that would not lock into my purpose.

The bases of these figures butt against each other, but they do not actually lock together.  It would work fine to sandwich the Koreaceratops family between the two kinds of cycadeoid trees, but I would recommend buying these trees based on their own merit.

[stemturtle]

Plants from the Playmobil Dimetrodon with Water Hole.  Animals are not shown.

I suspect that the Playmobil plants tend toward general representatives rather than specific genera.

The tree (6.5") could be a cycad because of the barrel-shaped trunk.
The lily pad began in the Cretaceous, an early angiosperm.
The log is on a hinge to be positioned either upright or fallen.  The orange leaves appear to be dead.
The dark green plant looks like a ground cover.
The sedge is called a bulrush or cattail on eBay.
The plant on the right reminds me of a carnivorous sundew.

[Blackdanter]

Here's an observation from a plantsmans point of view. On both the unamed Collecta Tree fern (with the Hypsilophodon family) and the named Wild Safari version the new frond growth is actually unfurling back to front. The fronds unfurl from the centre of the crown creating new trunk as they do so. In effect, the coil of the frond faces inwards not outwards from the centre of the trunk. Trunk formation would be impossible as the plants have been modelled. That's quite a major error in terms of tree fern biology, akin to putting the head on backwards on a Tyrannosaurus! Worse still when you make the error and then have the brass balls to name the species! 

[CityRaptor]

Oh, that could be an issue of not doing proper research. Most people probably would not care about this however, given that the plants are rarely the focus of a Diorama and most people care more about the animals anyways.

[stemturtle]

Here's an observation from a plantsmans point of view. On both the unamed Collecta Tree fern (with the Hypsilophodon family) and the named Wild Safari version the new frond growth is actually unfurling back to front. The fronds unfurl from the centre of the crown creating new trunk as they do so. In effect, the coil of the frond faces inwards not outwards from the centre of the trunk. Trunk formation would be impossible as the plants have been modelled. That's quite a major error in terms of tree fern biology, akin to putting the head on backwards on a Tyrannosaurus! Worse still when you make the error and then have the brass balls to name the species! 

Tree ferns

Blackdanter, the Forum is fortunate to have a plantsman as a member.  The photos are tree ferns on the Alakai Swamp Trail, Kauai, Hawaii.  The fiddleheads curl inward toward each other rather than curl away as sculpted in the models.  Thank you for this observation.  I confess that I love these models anyway, since my B.A. is in Zoology.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

errr so which one is safe to feed my Koreaceratops?

[Blackdanter]

Here's an observation from a plantsmans point of view. On both the unamed Collecta Tree fern (with the Hypsilophodon family) and the named Wild Safari version the new frond growth is actually unfurling back to front. The fronds unfurl from the centre of the crown creating new trunk as they do so. In effect, the coil of the frond faces inwards not outwards from the centre of the trunk. Trunk formation would be impossible as the plants have been modelled. That's quite a major error in terms of tree fern biology, akin to putting the head on backwards on a Tyrannosaurus! Worse still when you make the error and then have the brass balls to name the species! 

Tree ferns

Blackdanter, the Forum is fortunate to have a plantsman as a member.  The photos are tree ferns on the Alakai Swamp Trail, Kauai, Hawaii.  The fiddleheads curl inward toward each other rather than curl away as sculpted in the models.  Thank you for this observation.  I confess that I love these models anyway, since my B.A. is in Zoology.

Lovely pics of tropical Cyatheas there. Sadly, I lost my 6 foot Cyathea australis last year to two unusually harsh winters in a row 

Here's a picture of the only unfurling crozier I could find amongst my Dicksonias this morning.




Here's a picture of Big George, my largest Dicksonia antarctica at 18 foot with a 9 foot trunk 




Gingko biloboa does well in my garden as well 

[Blackdanter]

errr so which one is safe to feed my Koreaceratops?

Well, modern ferns (especially the larger species) contain poinonous compounds in the fronds to deter insect and animal damage. You won't see animals grazing on tree ferns! Bracken was a source of a cyanide like poison during the Victorian period and that plant dates back some 50 million years in the fossil record however the rhizomes are edible. Cycads produce particularly tough foliage and the only parts eaten by animals tend to be new soft growth or the inner caudex however modern cycads contain forms of neurotoxins which have medicinal use but kill grazing animals such as cattle/sheep through paralysis or liver damage. Sago of course comes from Cycads but is a processed food.

Depends how you want to kill your dinosaurs I guess! It could be argued that primitive forms of both plants may not have had these attributes however both plant groups had a hefty head start on dinosaurs in evolutionary terms and therefore ample time to evolve their respective defences. Personally, I doubt that either species was a favoured food source of herbivorous dinosaurs as there were actually plenty of other plant species around, especially once you get into the Cretaceous. 

[stemturtle]

Blackdanter, the photos from your garden are beautiful.  I had no idea that tree ferns could grow in the UK.  Minnesota is a no-go.  You are lucky.

[Gryphoceratops]

Awesome garden!