Petrified Palm Wood (Louisiana)

Beautiful golden Petrified Palm Wood, Palmoxylon, from Louisiana. These cabochons have tan and black areas and a great polka dot pattern! Some seem to have moonscapes or sceneries.

Tree trunks were buried under several hundred yards of sediment. Over the course of time the wood was replaced by cryptocrystalline quartz. During the replacement process by silica carried in underground waters, even the most minute details of the woody structure was preserved.

This is actually a psuedomorph-chalcedony replaces the wood. Therefore Petrified Wood is actually a member of the chalcedony family with a hardness of 6.5 to 7.

Metaphysical Properties: Petrified Wood is called the stone of patience.