Petrified palm root can be found anywhere palm trees once
grew, from the California desert to Texas in the U.S.A., and all around the
world. Like any petrified or fossilized wood,
the most common replacement is agate.
Swirling away from petrified palm roots kissing cousin,
petrified palm wood, the root fossilizes with swirls and orbs of root, in an array
of colors far from what the wood portrays.
Most root out there seems to become petrified by agate, while the wood I
have worked with has a harness closer to opalite. (Palm wood is one of the exceptions to the
above agate replacement).
Petrified palm root is known to be mainly shades of grey and
brown, with some red swirls, but when I saw this slab, I immediately saw purple
hues, with many more shades of red in the swirls than normally found.
I picked this slab up at a rock show in San Diego for a
measly $3.00 over 10-years ago and cut the cab above the same day. I was well pleased with how it cut, and it polished as nice as any porcelain jasper. I had never seen such colors in palm root before,
and haven’t seen it since. I will say,
this was $3.00 well spent!!
The slab was marked “Lake Havashu Port”, and I am assuming
that it originates from somewhere near Lake Havasu, Arizona. (Havashu could
easily be a mis-spelling of Havasu).
The cab measures 1 5/8-inches tall by 7/8-inches wide, and
1/8-inch thick.
The slab measures 7-inches by 4-inchs, and 3/16-inches
thick.
