Eucommia

Eucommia is a genus of small trees now native to China, with a fossil record that shows a much wider distribution. The single living species, Eucommia ulmoides, is vulnerable in the wild, but is widely cultivated in China for its bark, and is highly valued in herbology such as traditional Chinese medicine.

Eucommia

Sten Porse · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
EucommiaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Angiospermae

Time the record covers

At least 56 million years on record.

The record covers at least 63.4 Mya to 7.246 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 3.6 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 89 occurrencesPaleocene — about 59 of 89 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 11 of 89 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 4 of 89 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 14 of 89 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 89 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 89 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 6 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 15 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 12 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 11 occurrences59–56 Mya — about 13 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 4 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 1 occurrence52–50 Mya — about 1 occurrence50–48 Mya — about 1 occurrence48–46 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences46–43 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–37 Mya — about 1 occurrence37–35 Mya — about 1 occurrence35–33 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences33–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 1 occurrence26–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–20 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–8.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.8–6.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.5–2.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences63.4 Mya7.246 Mya67 Mya2 Mya

89 occurrences of Eucommia on record, most of them in the Paleocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

89 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

16 formations

Fort Union — 45.00°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.91°N, 109.03°WFort Union — 44.00°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.00°N, 108.00°WFort Union — 41.17°N, 108.91°WFort Union — 47.10°N, 104.72°WFort Union — 46.87°N, 102.57°WFort Union — 45.78°N, 108.50°WFort Union — 41.63°N, 107.55°WFort Union — 46.42°N, 110.55°WFort Union — 46.42°N, 105.83°WFort Union — 43.88°N, 108.52°WFort Union — 44.92°N, 106.85°WFort Union — 46.17°N, 108.43°WFort Union — 48.15°N, 104.92°WFort Union — 48.08°N, 105.63°WFort Union — 44.28°N, 105.37°WFort Union — 48.40°N, 109.27°WFort Union — 42.75°N, 109.72°WFort Union — 46.35°N, 110.40°WFort Union — 46.58°N, 105.88°WFort Union — 46.88°N, 104.93°WFort Union — 45.26°N, 106.14°WFort Union — 46.62°N, 104.39°WFort Union — 46.66°N, 104.32°WFort Union — 48.92°N, 105.53°WFort Union — 43.70°N, 104.70°WFort Union — 45.45°N, 103.21°WFort Union — 45.58°N, 103.21°WFort Union — 46.37°N, 102.33°WFort Union — 45.92°N, 101.55°WFort Union — 47.00°N, 103.00°WSagavanirktok — 69.79°N, 148.64°WTullock — 45.71°N, 106.39°WTullock — 47.14°N, 107.33°WTullock — 39.49°N, 74.84°WTullock — 46.42°N, 105.83°WRaton — 36.95°N, 104.33°WRaton — 36.90°N, 104.43°WRaton — 37.00°N, 104.48°WRaton — 37.15°N, 104.73°WChallis Volcanics — 44.36°N, 114.22°WFort Union? — 47.30°N, 104.52°WFort Union? — 46.19°N, 101.30°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.33°WRenova — 45.20°N, 112.16°WCoalmont — 40.86°N, 106.34°WDawson arkose — 39.12°N, 104.17°WFerris — 41.83°N, 106.62°WAkeyo — 35.36°N, 137.18°EBuxin — 23.18°N, 112.88°EPiney Point — 37.67°N, 77.14°WOld Church — 37.67°N, 77.14°WJohn Day — 44.94°N, 120.40°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Eucommia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 17 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Eucommia and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Eucommia and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

477 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 75 sites for Eucommia, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

18 references

Each of the 89 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 6 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Eucommia

Credit
Sten Porse
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Eucommia was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEucommiaceae through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Oliver 1890