My name's Jim Gardner. I'm one of the research 
scientists at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
In my day job, I study mostly fossil
frogs and salamanders.
In my spare time, I really like to garden.
Today I'd like to talk to you about 
some really cool plant fossils,
from about 45 million years ago, 
from the Canadian Arctic.
This mummified tree stump is from
a tree called taxodium, or swamp cypress.
We have a living one growing in front 
of us here in the Cretaceous Garden.
That same locality has also produced
thousands of mummified cones,
of various conifers, leaves and so forth.
These fossils tell us that at that time, 
45 million years ago in the High Arctic,
conditions were warmer and wetter, 
so that swamp forests could grow.
But we also know that the light 
regime was similar to today.
So we're talking about long, dark winters 
and short, bright summers.
