Plant – Ginkgo

Burniston

Body fossil. Leaf. Only one species of Ginkgo survives today, G. biloba, native to China. It has no close relatives. The distinctive symmetrical fan-shaped leaf is notched with bifurcating veins; Jurassic ginkgoes were more diverse but share a similar morphology. Gingkoes predate flowering plants and flowering trees. Fossilised in silt/sand following a river bank breach over a flood plain. Long Nab Member of the Scalby Formation. Middle Jurassic. Burniston.