The fossils are preserved here as impressions and carbonaceous films. The McAbee fossil beds are 30 metres of fossiliferous shale in the Eocene Kamloops Group. The McAbee Fossil Beds are known for their incredible abundance, diversity and quality of fossils including lovely plant, insect and fish species that lived in an old lake bed setting 52-53 million years ago. We find lovely examples of Metasequoia occidentalis in the Eocene outcrops at McAbee near Cache Creek, British Columbia, Canada. More than twenty fossil species have been named over time - some even identified as the genus Sequoia in error - but for all their collective efforts to beef up this genus there are just three species: Metasequoia foxii, Metasequoia milleri, and Metasequoia occidentalis.ĭuring the Paleocene and Eocene, extensive forests of Metasequoia thrived as far north as Strathcona Fiord on Ellesmere Island and sites on Axel Heiberg Island (northern Canada) at around 80° N latitude. Metasequoia fossils are known from many areas in the Northern Hemisphere. Since its rediscovery in 1944, the dawn redwood has become a popular ornamental tree in the Pacific Northwest. Local villagers refer to the original tree from which most others derive as Shui-sa, or "water fir", which is part of a local shrine. Metasequoia needles are paired as if you were jumping forward, one print beside the other, while Sequoia needles have the one-in-front-of-the-other pattern of walking.Īlthough the least tall of the redwoods, it grows to at least Sixty meters (200 feet) in height. Think of the pattern or jumping versus walking. Sequoia needles are offset and attach alternately. Metasequoia has paired needles that attach opposite to each other on the compound stem. They are remarkably similar to and sometimes mistaken for Sequoia at first glance but are easily distinguishable if you look to their needles. The modern Metasequoia glyptostroboides looks identical to its late Cretaceous ancestors. Metasequoia has experienced morphological stasis for the past 65 million years, meaning they have not changed much. It is the sole living species of Metasequoia glyptostroboides and one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. Metasequoia, Dawn Redwood, is a fast-growing, deciduous tree native to Lichuan county in Hubei province in central China.