The Collections: fossil plants


The palaeobotany section is located at the ground floor: access is from the so-called Fireplace room, and the section is distributed within two rooms. The first one is a small room, on its wall are displayed some fossil palm trees from Bolca; above the entrance door hangs a portrait of Achille De Zigno. De Zigno is considered "the father of fossil plants" for his remarkable findings on the Jurassic flora of the oolitic limestone of Veneto.

The main room is called Sala delle Palme (Palm Trees Hall) because its walls are covered by fossil palm leaves and coconut-like fruits from some localities near Bolca, such as Monte Purga, Vegroni, Monte Postale (in the Verona area) dating back to the Middle Eocene and Chiavon (in the Vicenza area), dating to the Early-Middle Oligocene. Bolca is also interesting for its shallow water flora, besides the Pesciara. Up to now more than 250 species of fossils plants belonging to the tropical genera Ficus, Fracastoria, Latanites, Eucalyptus were found at Bolca and other nearby sites.
Many othes palms come from Chiavon, such as the impressive Latanites maximiliani, more than 3 metres high.

In the four showcases situated in the centre of the room, the fossils are shown according the stratigraphical sequence and the phylogenetic relations. In the first box there are clumbmosses, ferns and horsetails from the Carboniferous period. In the second showcase there are some conifers from the Triassic beds of Recoaro (in the Vicenza area), and many remains of Cycas and other genera of the Jurassic flora from the oolitic limestone of Vicenza and Verona areas. In the third showcase there are fossil flora from the Jurassic limestone of Vicenza and Verona areas.
In the last showcase there are the early flower-bearing plants of the Cretaceous period, and Angiosperms from Bolca, Novale (Vicenza area – Middle Eocene) and from the Pliocene of Cornuda (Treviso).

A panoramic view of the "Sala delle Palme"