Arecaceae
Photo credit: Frances Goodman
Arecaceae: The scientific name of a family of plants that you are doubtlessly familiar with. . . Palm trees! Here is the wood from one of those trees.
These plants flourish in moist, hot climates, so it might seem odd that we have fossils of them here on Vancouver Island. However, research of the rocks that make up the island show that much of Vancouver Island formed much closer to the equator than its present day location.
This, combined with the fact that the Late Cretaceous had a relatively warm climate, explains how we were able to find Arecaceae specimens this far north.