Eucommia rolandii facts for kids

Eucommia rolandii is an extinct plant that used to grow a long, long time ago. It was a type of flowering plant in the Eucommiaceae family. We know about E. rolandii from fossil leaves found in rocks from the Eocene period. These fossils were discovered in British Columbia, Canada, and Mississippi, United States. E. rolandii is one of five fossil species from North America that belong to the modern plant group called Eucommia. Other related fossil species include E. constans, E. eocenica, E. jeffersonensis, and E. montana.

Discovering an Ancient Plant

Scientists found Eucommia rolandii from only two fossil pieces. One main fossil, called the holotype, is kept at the Florida Museum of Natural History. It came from rocks in Mississippi that are from the Middle Eocene time. The other fossil is at Simon Fraser University in Canada. It has three leaves, but they are not attached to any fruits.

Paleobotanists Victor B. Call and David L. Dilcher, from the University of Florida, first studied Eucommia rolandii. They wrote about this new species in 1997 in a science magazine called American Journal of Botany. They named the plant rolandii to honor Roland W. Brown. He was an American paleobotanist who first found Eucommia fossils in North America.

What Did Eucommia rolandii Look Like?

The leaves of Eucommia rolandii were shaped like an oval. They had a pointed base and a tip that slowly narrowed to a point. These leaves could be up to 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) long. They could also be up to 5 centimeters (about 2 inches) wide.

A small stem, called a petiole, up to 2 centimeters (about 0.8 inches) long, connected the leaf to the branch. Each leaf had one main vein running down the middle. At least five pairs of smaller veins branched off this main vein. These smaller veins formed loops near the edges of the leaf.

Even smaller veins created a network of irregular shapes on the leaf. The edges of the leaves were serrated, meaning they had small teeth. These teeth often curved strongly towards the leaf tip.

One special thing about E. rolandii leaves is that they had preserved latex. Latex is a milky fluid found in some plants. Scientists found small bundles of latex in all the veins of these fossil leaves.