Maple
Acer trilobatum, Mittelmiozän
About the object
From the 164 plant fossils from the Middle Miocene held at the Museum Natur und Mensch, two of these are known to be species of maple. The leaves of the A. trilobatum have long petioles and three lobes. They are also generally larger and more robust than the finer leaves of the A. angustilobum. Some scientists argue that A. trilobatum is the same species as the extant Montpellier maple, A. monospessulanum.
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The fossilised leaves from A. trilobatum are common finds among the fossils to emerge from the Bohlinger Schlucht near Öhningen. A. trilobatum grew 13.5 million years ago in a forest during the Middle Miocene, before Lake Constance had been formed. During this time, in the northern Alpine foothills, a network of sediment-rich, slowly flowing rivers had meandered together creating a vast riverscape. Among the rivers were also lakes, oxbow lakes and sloughs (wetlands). Great savannahs stretched far and wide throughout this landscape. Forests proliferated where there was sufficient water. Willow and poplar grew alongside maple in riparian or gallery forests – related species of these trees can still be found growing in proximity to native bodies of water today. Cinnamon, sweet gum and plane trees – trees that can no longer be found in central European forests, flourished in their vicinity. Related species are now native to North and Central American and Asia.