Wayne's Word Index Noteworthy Plants Trivia Lemnaceae Biology 101 Botany Search Monterey & Northern California #2 Back To The Page Of Thumbnail Images This fallen redwood tree has remained in the same position for the past 30,000 centuries. Its orientation corresponds to the force of a volcanic explosion from the direction of Mt. St. Helena that blew it over. During this time interval is has completey turned into stone, with all of its cellular detail perfectly preserved in silica. The trunk is six feet (1.8 m) in diameter and 60 feet 18.3 m) in length. This petrified redwood has a trunk diameter of over eight feet (2.4 m). Like other petrified trees of the fallen forest, the bark and wood tissue are perfectly preserved. Called the Robert Louis Stevenson Tree, this redwood patriarch commemorates the discovery of Petrified Forest by Charles Evans in 1870, and his meeting with the famous author in 1880, immortalized in the book The Silverado Squatters. Left: A coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) growing up through a break in the massive petrified trunk of a California redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). Right: A piece of perfectly preserved petrified redwood. These fossil redwoods formed a thriving forest in this region about 30,000 centuries ago. Back To Monterey Trip Thumbnail Images Return To WAYNE'S WORD Home Page Return To NOTEWORTHY PLANTS Page Go To Biology GEE WHIZ TRIVIA Page Go To The LEMNACEAE ON-LINE Page All text material & images on these pages copyright © W.P. Armstrong