![metasequoia subdivid metasequoia subdivid](http://www16.tok2.com/home/plankton/metakuso/k02.jpg)
Note dark vertical lines produced by margins of decurrent leaves and twisting of leaf bases at level of divergence. 4.2, Close-up of stem from living species showing a deciduous shoot with two orders of branching. All leaves occur in decussate arrangement and twist at level of divergence from stem to produce a planar branch. Second-order branches are borne oppositely in axils of leaves and bear smaller leaves. First-order branch bears large leaves that diminish in size at apex.
![metasequoia subdivid metasequoia subdivid](https://i.pinimg.com/474x/eb/84/fa/eb84fa30220cf3982dd40f9c3fc4e567--modeling-tips-d-max.jpg)
4.1, Deciduous shoot of living plant with two orders of branching. milleri, and evolutionary diversification within the genus is considered. Ranges of variation in characters of the new species are compared to those of the currently recognized, well-known species of Metasequoia, M. The diagnostic combination of characters for this species includes leaf size, pollen cone length, ovuliferous cone scale arrangement, seed size and shape, and characters of the seedlings. However, a combination of characters from several organs demonstrates the occurrence of a distinct species, M. As is characteristic of taxodioid conifers in general, most compressed organs of the new species are not specifically diagnostic when evaluated as isolated fragments of the sporophyte. An in situ permineralized stem provides information about wood structure and suggests that the plant was a canopy tree. More than 10,000 compression specimens, including oppositely branched stems, vegetative shoots with decussately arranged leaves, pollen cones, pollen, ovulate cones, seeds, and seedlings, provide data for reconstructing a new species of Metasequoia. A single species of taxodioid conifers is among the dominant floristic elements at two stratigraphically contemporaneous Paleocene fossil localities in central Alberta, Canada.