Something new -- specimens from a featured location --
REFUGIO BEACH, CALIFORNIA
We have a number of outstanding specimens from this unusual locality in Santa Barbara County, California, and have posted them on a separate page. These specimens came straight out of the personal stash of the collector/preparator and each of them is unique in one way or another.
Please click on the map below to view the choices.
WELCOME TO MILLS GEOLOGICAL
specializing in unusual, identified petrified wood
and plant fossils from around the world
We invite you to click on any photo to see a larger, more defined photo of the select specimen. For a more complete listing of our specimens, please download our catalog from from the links below.
Sequoia sp.
Columbia Plateau, Washington State
** Excellent structure (and center) in this great opalized piece of sequoia from Washington. Modern sequoias are some of earth's fanciest trees, and fossilized specimens are equally captivating. This is a nice example!
5" diameter'slab varies in thickness from 7/16" to 3/4" $55
Yew (Taxus sp) "Tonopah Wood"
** Take a closer look at this interesting yew wood-encased-in-fossil algae by clicking on the photo above. These specimens were not uncommon on the market 20 years ago, but now are much harder to find. Exceptional growth ring definition, and one of the more interesting patterns ever to be found in wood. Yew is in the genus Taxus; the chemotherapy drug "Taxol" uses bark of the yew as one of its components.
From an area near Tonopah, Nevada
3.5" x 4.5" x 7/16" thick $73
Woodworthia (undescribed new species)
** This interesting new species of woodworthia was uncovered about eight years ago and has yet to be described in a professional paper, though it is generally agreed that it is related to woodworthia. The shortshoots of this woodworthia left enormous scars on the exterior of the tree and a almost spiral-like pattern on the transverse face of the wood.
Nice dark purple and maroon colors. This wood is indeed different!
Area around Tuba City, Arizona
12" x 6" x 1/2" thick slab $62
Sycamore Pests by T.H. Filer et al
Published in 1977 by the US Department of Agriculture Southern Forest Experiment Station. If you have sycamore leaves (for example from Green River Formation) or sycamore wood (for example from Teeter Ranch), you likely have insect damage to the leaf or cambial layer of bark. This 36-page guide to major insects, diseases, and air pollution damage will help you in assessing the cause of the damage to your sycamore while it was still alive and before it was fossilized. Very good copy. Interior pages and covers are crisp. Well illustrated with examples of insect predation and diseases which are common in sycamore. $22
Historical Geology by Carl Dunbar
This is a college textbook for Paleontology 101, and in my opinion, one of the best ever produced (Dunbar was an extraordinary paleontologist). It is comprehensive, succinct, and easy to read. Profusely illustrated. An excellent copy in hardback edition of 1965. 500 pages of well indexed paleo! $15
Important books for your library
Palmoxylon -- palm fiber wih some root development (rhizopalmoxylon)
Great contrast in this piece. See close-up!
6" x 4" x 3/8" thick slab $48
Fascinating Palm Slices from an unusual locality
Both of these great pieces were found during the construction of Wateree Prison near Florence, South Carolina. There won't be any more of this material unless a prisoner breaks out by tunneling under the prison and finds another log! Together, they form an interesting suite of unusual South Carolina palm specimens
ABOVE: Palmoxylon -- (palm fiber wih extensive root development (rhizopalmoxylon) along one edge. The arc of the division line between fiber and root is so small that this must have been a trunk of at least 4 or 5 feet in diameter!.
