Landscape Plants

Only 1 species (see below).
Metasequoia: from the Greek meta, with, and Sequoia.

The State Fossil of Oregon
    The Oregon legislature designated the Metasequoia as the official state fossil in 2005.  Metasequoia flourished in the Miocene epoch of 25 to 5 million years ago and left its record embedded in rocks across the Oregon landscape.  While long extinct in Oregon, paleontologists discovered living 100-foot Metasequoia glyptostroboides trees in a remote area of China in the 1940s.  Seeds were sent to Harvard University, and these were distributed to various institutions throughout the United States, including Oregon State University. For more information on the discovery of M. glyptostroboides, see the information below.