Petrified Forest of Lesbos Island (Greece): A Palaeobotanical Puzzle of a Unique Geopark and the New Discoveries

On November 2015 Lesbos Island has faced an ultimate recognition as one of UNESCO’s Global Geoparks, an honor of its international significance based on its geological treasure as revealed by the existence of the famous early Miocene Petrified Forest and the variety of its geosites. The aim of this study is to draw a holistic approach for the palaeobotany of Lesbos Island through three main subjects: a) The first one is dealing with the past, the recognition of the palaeobotanical importance of Lesbos since the ancient times and the revision of the palaeoxylotomical and foliage material, b) the second theme gives a very brief summary of the recent results from the research by the first author and c) the third one uses the revealing of the historical part of Lesbos palaeofloristic treasure and also the recent botanical legislation and studies highlighting the complexity of Lesbos palaeobotany, which underline the remaining inconsistencies and propose solutions in order to give the perspectives of the future.