Let's talk about the Leaf Stone!

 

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“Pietra particolare che fa evolvere determinate specie di Pokémon. Riporta l'immagine di una foglia.”

The Leaf Stone, along with the Fire, Water, and Thunder Stones, is one of the longest-studied and classified evolution items, responsible for accessing the final stage of six different modern Pokémon evolutionary lines, all of which end with a Grass-type.
Sinnoh historical records, dating back to when the region was still called Hisui, report that even Hisui's Voltorb (at the time a Grass/Electric-type) could evolve into the regional Electrode thanks to exposure to this stone.  

Throughout its descriptions, the image of at least one leaf is consistently visible on the stone, with color variations ranging from cream to greenish. Looking closely, you'll notice that the leaf shape, rather than being painted, seems imprinted on the surface.
In a certain sense, this is exactly how it is. Just as the Water Stone has its roots in ancient times, a small ecosystem of ancient waters, so the Leaf Stone most likely arises from a mold fossil.

Mold fossils, in this case specifically what our Galarian friends would call compression fossils, form when sedimentary rock bears signs of ancient life forms or even special environmental conditions, true imprints of the past. This type of process is often more gentle in preserving plants than Pokémon, since leaves are already two-dimensional, and the compression against the rock required to form it doesn't distort them much. Typically, unlike other finds, they no longer contain the original body whose shape they imitate: it's as if, in the future, they found the shape of your hand imprinted in clay.
Perhaps this is where things get interesting for our Leaf Stone: some types of plants, such as ginkgo, can retain a thin layer of organic matter trapped in the rock. If the ancient Leaf Stones were just any fossil leaves, why is the leaf imprinted on their surface always of a similar kind, and never, for example, ferns?
If there were only the imprint of a leaf, with no organic matter telling them apart, how could evolutionary energy distinguish between a real fossil and a sedimentary rock without the design of a plant, and so why aren't Leaf Stones also random stones?
According to the most logical answer, it seems that it was precisely the type of leaf that played a special role. Discovering the exact species could be a major scientific breakthrough both for paleobotany, the study of fossil plants, and for studies on Pokémon evolution!

 

Fun facts:

• Recognizing a fossilized plant isn't always easy. There are many "natural fakes," called pseudofossils: inorganic objects that, due to certain natural phenomena or crystalline formations, mimic the remains of an ancient life form, but have nothing to do with a fossilization process. A great example, and also very beautiful to look at, is manganese oxide, which forms dark structures resembling fossilized plants.

• In 1864, a Galarian scientist described the Eomon, the "Pokémon of Dawn," from its fossilized remains. This extraordinary single-celled organism is considered to be the first and oldest example of life ever discovered on the planet!
  The notion of Eomon's existence persisted for almost a century, before it was realized that the first terrestrial life form... had never existed. It was simply minerals, a complex concretion of white calcite and green serpentine. Oops.
   
• Since the creatures depicted in their fossil remains were three-dimensional, there are often two identical fossil molds of the same specimen, showing, so to speak, the front and back. These two casts are often called slab and counterslab, or counterparts. If you have a Leaf Stone, chances are someone else in the world could have its twin!

 

 Read about the other evolution stones HERE! 

 

Prof.ssa Roberta Camara

Università degli Studi di Panormus 

 

 🌵🎨 All the drawings in this page (and probably of all the others too, unless otherwise specified) were made by our artists, Furiarossa e Mimma. The artwork depicting the Leaf Stone is a sprite of the Pokémon Company.🌵🎨.