Maine Fossil

Primitive Plant

(Pertica quadrifaria)

Adopted in 1985.

Primitive Plant, Pertica quadrifaria, was adopted in 1985. It was selected as the Maine State Fossil for several reasons. It was first discovered in Maine. It is also a rare fossil; well-preserved remains of Pertica are found at only three other places in the world besides Maine. Finally, it is an important fossil scientifically as it represents a significant early step in the evolution of vascular land plants which ultimately resulted in numerous modern species, including the pine tree.

Scientific name of a primitive plant that lived about 390,000,000 years ago during the Devonian Period. Its fossilized remains were discovered in 1968 in the rocks of the Trout Valley Formation in Baxter State Park near Mount Katahdin.

Pertica was a simple plant of the trimerophyte lineage, lacking both leaves and roots. However, strong stems tipped with terminal sporangia (reproductive structures) allowed Pertica to grow to heights of as much as 9 feet. Photosynthesis was accomplished by the stems and numerous branches. Trimerophytes as a group are though to have given rise to all the subsequent groups of terrestrial plants except for the lycopods (clubmosses).

Based on the type of rock it is found in today and the other fossils associated with it, Pertica quadrifaria grew in a brackish or freshwater marsh near an active volcano. Fragments of the plants were preserved when they fell into the marsh and were covered by sediment before they could decay. After millions of years of burial, the plant remains are now exposed along eroding stream banks.