Petrified deciduous tree, wood slice, Javanese magnolia

A petrified hardwood tree disc from Indonesia, a prehistoric relative of the magnolia. 87 cm trunk diameter, a well-balanced collector's dimension.

Indonesian petrified wood from Tertiary swamp sediments of the Java island formation is approximately 5-25 million years old. The trunks of the tropical hardwoods were preserved in an oxygen-poor depositional environment and mineralized by silica-containing solutions.

The cross-section reveals the hardwood habit: less prominent annual rings than in conifers, but broad tracheids and fine fiber structures. Magnolias are one of the oldest families of flowering plants, whose Tertiary relatives are now found petrified in Java.

The warm coloration in red-brown shades is typical for Indonesian material from these deposits and differs from American petrified wood.

A paleontological collector's item with clear geological provenance.