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ABOUT
Following a trip to Haldane, Southland, some years ago, a friend advised me that a petrified wood specimen given to me by a farmer was in fact Pentoxylon. Not knowing anything about Pentoxylon I googled it, finding an explanation of it's uniqueness, and further, that it was currently being researched in Australia by a group of U.S. paleobotanists. Thus started my fascination with this enigmatic genus.
The American study was published in 2013, and created a new name, Donponoxylon, for the fossils as found in Australia and N.Z., formerly known as Pentoxylon. The paper clearly differentiated them from the original Pentoxylon of India. It also compared Donponoxylon with possible related genera, Pentoxylon, Rhexoxylon, Hermanophyton and cycads. Over the course of many trips to Southland, friends and I brought back numerous Donponoxylon specimens, as well as even more ferns. Both of these groupings are shown here, and on separate catalogues attached. We are indebted to a number of Southland farmers, who provided us with free access to their farms and other logistical help. If this website stimulates an interest in either Donponoxylon / Pentoxylon, or N.Z. Jurassic ferns and results in further research, it's intention will have been realised. Ray Jackson |