How to Identify Conifers - Page 6 of 10
By Ed Strauss, Washington (photos and content)

These two micro photographs are of fossil woods at 40x in the transverse view that fit the description for this group. Figure 9 shows one seasonal growth ring while Figure 10 shows fourteen. Figure 9 is more typical of the bald cypress genus and Figure 10 is more typical of the redwood, sequoia, and metasequoia genera. The parenchyma cells are best seen in Figure 10. They are the scattered white or inflated cell not at the growth ring boundary. The specimen shown in Figure 9 has them but it is not as easy to see in the photograph.

Figure 9

Figure 10

Now lets look at the tangential view of the same two specimens.

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