Germinating seeds and seedlings of a Metasequoia -like taxodiaceous conifer from the Paleocene of Alberta. Layers containing seedlings are 5 cm thick and overly layers rich in taxodiaceous foliage and seeds. Cotyledons have parallel margins and rounded tips.
Many seedlings display a root and an aerial shoot with opposite, decussate leaves.
Basal foliar leaves are consistently smaller and thinner than cotyledons, and terminate in small, mucronate tips. The largest leaves occur on the longest branches, and are interpreted to represent the oldest seedlings. Some specimens show a chalazal notch that probably represents the point of attachment. The micropylar canal is typically inconspicuous, except in specimens from which a radicle protrudes. These conifers, like the angiosperm Joffrea , were probably colonizers of open flood plain habitats, and provide the first evidence for the mode of germination and seedling development in extinct taxodiaceous conifers.