This 20-million-year-old fossil is of a twig bearing very small lanceolate (spear-point shaped)
leaves, similar to leaves seen today in living cypresses, such as the swamp cypresses
(Taxodium) and the Chinese swamp cypress (Glyptostrobus), However, because there is
insufficient detail that can be seen - the specimen lacks clearly visible reproductive features -
it cannot confidently be assigned to either group. The main difference between the groups is
the shape of the seeds - winged in Glyptostrobus and not in Taxodium. Because, as their
common names imply, both groups favour a swampy habitat, Taxodites is a good indicator
fossil for its environmental conditions