are any fossils available?
Yes, from Monte Bolca, a lagerstätte near Verona
Postelsia
Fossils from Monte Bolca, a lagerstätte near Verona,
what is postelsia? The sea palm from where does it get its name? From geologist Alexander Philipov Postels and artist who worked with Ruprecht, while the specific name, "palmaeformis", describes the alga's superficial similarity in appearance to true palms. where is it found? In California
wiki:15430617
Postelsia [SEP] Fossil record
Fossils from Monte Bolca, a lagerstätte near Verona, were originally named "Zoophycos caput-medusae" and previously thought to be trace fossils, but were later found to be plants instead and given the name Algarum by French zoologist Henri Milne-Edwards in 1866. The type specimen collected by Italian paleobotanist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo before 1855 is at the Natural History Museum of Verona and was preserved in a lithographic limestone upper and lower slab. When Italian botanist Achille Forti (1878–1937) worked on the specimens in 1926, they were reinterpreted as close relatives of "Postelsia", now known to be a brown algae, which had lived in the coastal waters of the Eocene sea.