What are Fossil Plants?

In a normal natural environment, flowering plants, grasses, trees, or old dead fallen branches will deteriorate and decay, to vanish completely, within a short time. This is mainly the result of fungal activity, and that of saprophytic plants and small animal life. However, if conditions surrounding the site inhibit the reproduction of saprophytic organisms, such as in the mud at the bottom of a lake or pond where conditions are anaerobic, or in frosty soil under extremely cold conditions, or in a desert where humidity is very low, then the dead plant or its detached organs may have a chance of preservation. Formation of a fossil must have the right burial conditions; different environments and sedimentary processes will result in fossils of different form. Most fossil plants are buried in sedimentary rocks, in other words, the fragments of the plants usually become fossils in the area where the deposits accumulate. Fossil plants may be any part of the plant, such as the leaf, trunk, cortex, seed, pollen, or even an impression of the plant itself in the sedimentary rock. Coal formed under specific conditions may be regarded as fossil plants to a certain extent.