Charnia

Charnia is an extinct genus of frond-like lifeforms belonging to the Ediacaran biota with segmented, leaf-like ridges branching alternately to the right and left from a zig-zag medial suture. The genus Charnia was named after Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, England, where the first fossilised specimen was found, and is thus pronounced ; the first species of Charnia described, Charnia masoni, was named after Roger Mason, a schoolboy who was believed to have initially discovered it. Charnia is significant because it was the first Precambrian fossil to be recognized as such.