Cladophlebis – New Zealand’s Mesozoic Weed

A typical slab of 'fern rock' from the Jurassic of the Catlins. The preserved length of the Cladophlebis fossil frond at right is about 100 mm. Photo: the author (Mike Pole).

The fern Cladophlebis is probably the single-most common plant fossil in the New Zealand Jurassic. It’s present in virtually every plant fossil site of that age (see the Featured Image of this post), so much so that Mildenhall (1974) referred to it as ‘Mesozoic weed’. When New Zealanders talk about ‘fern rock’, it’s a good… Continue reading Cladophlebis – New Zealand’s Mesozoic Weed