Metasequoia occidentalis

Metasequoia occidentalis is an extinct redwood species of the family Cupressaceae that is found as fossils throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It is one of three extinct species of "Metasequoia" that are currently recognized as valid.
History.
The species was first described in 1863 from fossils found in the outcrops of the Late Paleocene-Middle Eocene Chuckanut Formation around Birch Bay, Washington. The species was originally described as "Taxodium occidentale" by John Strong Newberry. Fossilized "Metasequoia"-like remains were noted in Europe and North America from the 1800s on, but were assigned to the cupressaceous genera "Sequoia" (redwoods) and "Taxodium" (bald cypresses). It was not until the living species "Metasequoia glyptostroboides" was discovered and described from a remote area of China during the 1940s, that the affinity of many of the fossils became apparent. In 1951, the species was reassigned to "Metasequoia" as "M. occidentalis" by Ralph Works Chaney based on the close resemblance to living "Metasequoia". It has been said that, with few exceptions, the bulk of the fossils described in the literature indicate that "M. occidentalis" was indistinguishable from living "Metasequoia glyptostroboides".
Description.
Like living "Metasequoia", "M. occidentalis" was deciduous. The foliage consists of branchlets with oppositely arranged leaves. The leaves are ovate to linear in shape, ranging from in length and in width, with a distinct midvein, a petiolate base, and an acute tip. The seed-bearing cones are globose to ovoid, long and wide, with decussately arranged triangular scales, and are borne on long, leafless stalks. The seeds have two wings, are ovoid to cordate in shape, and are up to long and wide. The pollen-bearing cones are small, globose to ovoid, long and wide, and oppositely arranged on specialized stalks with one terminal cone.
Age and distribution.
"Metasequoia occidentalis" appeared in fossil record during the Late Cretaceous epoch (Cenomanian stage). By the Tertiary period, it had become a major constituent of lowland and swampy forests in the northern circum-Pacific and polar regions, where it commonly coexisted with "Glyptostrobus europaeus". Fossils assignable to "M. occidentalis" have been reported from parts of the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Japan, Greenland and Svalbard, but "Metasequoia" appears to have been rare or absent in much of Europe.