Here is another instance of an upright tree preserved in a coal seam. Note also that this drawing 
depicts no visible traces of roots even though the tree is sitting atop a laminated Fireclay.  The
fact that the Fireclay is laminated is itself also good evidence that it was not a soil, but rather a
sedimentary deposit, and that this tree stump did not grow here, but rather was transported.

After Williamson, William C., A Monograph on the Morphology and Histology of Stigmaria Ficoides, London, 1887, p. 13.

Polystrate Fossils Part One    Polystrate Fossils Part Two     Back to Upright Trees in Coal