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Cycad Cone Fossil?


Stacey

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Let me start with I have no idea where this came from. I got this a few years back cleaning up a vacant lot when working for a mobile home park, and snatched it up because I recognized it as no ordinary rock. It appears that it's made of limestone. It's dimensions are 6 3/4 in. x 3 1/2 in. x 4 in. I've owned a few Sago palms, and the round looking objects immediately struck me as big seeds arranged in a circular pattern. I didn't notice it until I started taking photos, but it appears that it may be a double crown.

Best as I can tell, this is the top:pltfos08.jpg

If you look to the left at the three circular objects, centered just below the one on the left is the center of the first stem (?), and if you look to the right of the rock, you'll see a V-shaped notch. Right below that is about where the second center is. The hollowed out space to the far right is where a seed (?) once was.

This is rolling it forward and looking at it from the side. pltfos04.jpg

You can see a big seed (?) and the outline of several others, most of which are missing pieces.

Looking at it directly from the side edge:

pltfos01.jpg

I can't tell for sure, but the circular object at the far right may be an immature seed or possibly a stem. There's another right above it that is split in half, then directly on top is the big seed-looking thing.

The bottom. You can see the striations of growth. It looks a lot like petrified wood, only more porous like a sponge.

pltfos09.jpg

Opposite side. What I didn't notice until I took the photo is that it appears that some of the bark (?) is still attached, making a vague star-shaped pattern. This appears to be where other seeds (?) were attached at one time, because the areas in the arms are shallowly pitted.

pltfos10.jpg

I have more photos or can take others if needed.

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Doesn't look organic to me.

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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Doesn't look organic to me.

Really, the photos don't do it justice. If you had it in your hands, you'd know for sure it was organic.

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I'm having trouble seeing what you're describing ... ?

but maybe it's just lack of imagination on my part.

"don’t you lock up something that you wanted to see fly..." chris cornell / soundgarden

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My first impression is also that it is not a fossil or if it is, it is some very oddly conglomerated steinkerns which are internal casts of things like clams or snails. Also not knowing what formation it came out of is also a problem. But as you said sometimes you have to hold it in your hand to see what it really is.

What I suggest is that you take it to one of the various paleontological society meetings or a natural history museum. All the groups have monthly meetings and all welcome guests. I know our group the Paleontological Society of Austin would be happy to help you. The Texas memorial Museum also has an identification day coming up soon. They love to help folks with stuff like that. Just do a search for Paleontological Societies in Texas

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Well, all I can say for sure is that there are definite circular patterns when you look at it, the round objects circling a central point. The more I look at it, the more I realize that it's not just two points, but maybe at least 3 or 4. I keep getting more confused the more I look at it! I found a view that you can see it has 2 objects and 3 empty hollows (at this particular point).

pltfos11.jpg

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I was prepared to proclaim that they are concretions in matrix (and I still wouldn't rule that out), but your last picture seems to suggest a radial symmetry, which could be an indication of an organic origin. Still leaning toward concretions, though.

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Stacey, what part of the country did you find this in? I don't know where you live , Texas or other state, could you you help with this matter. That would help a lot. I have a good collection of cycads from Texas and their cones and to tell the truth I hate the name SAGO palm, for it is a cycad. Perhaps you should show them a picture of a seed cone to show how the seeds are formed inside a cone of fluff and not a real structure. There are two types of cones male and female,this would be female and a very rare find indeed. They are as easy to fossilize as a jellyfish.

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ok, with the last pic i'm starting to see where you're coming from.

as Auspex said, there could possibly be some radial symmetry there.

"don’t you lock up something that you wanted to see fly..." chris cornell / soundgarden

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Stacey, what part of the country did you find this in? I don't know where you live , Texas or other state, could you you help with this matter. That would help a lot. I have a good collection of cycads from Texas and their cones and to tell the truth I hate the name SAGO palm, for it is a cycad. Perhaps you should show them a picture of a seed cone to show how the seeds are formed inside a cone of fluff and not a real structure. There are two types of cones male and female,this would be female and a very rare find indeed. They are as easy to fossilize as a jellyfish.

JP, I have no idea where the people who abandoned this got it. I do know they traveled a lot, but I have no idea where they could have gotten it. I wish there were some way to ask them, but it was one of those situations where you have a brief acquaintance and the people move on.

When I say I thought it looked like a sago seed, or a cycad cone, I wasn't saying that I thought it WAS a sago cone, just something possibly similar to it. I'm fully aware that the things are wiry bristles coated with fuzzy fluff, something I couldn't see fossilizing like that. I did find a photo of something I thought it could be similar to: cycad cone with seeds BUT, the more I look at this, I don't think it's that sort of cone, if a cone at all, but I do think the round objects are seeds of some kind.

I wish y'all could see this thing. It's crazy to look at.

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You got me wrong Stacey, I see what you have, that's why I moved back here to Live Oak County, this is where they are at. I have found them here and down in Mexico. You are quiet right, look at the living to see the past, that's how it's done. You have a good eye, for these things remember, a ton of one thing just proves a point, one more just adds to it something different is new and is knowledge. Down here the Rio Grande has been like a giant fire hose flowing wildly over millions of years, everything that could have fallen into it has found its way here.

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You got me wrong Stacey, I see what you have, that's why I moved back here to Live Oak County, this is where they are at. I have found them here and down in Mexico. You are quiet right, look at the living to see the past, that's how it's done. You have a good eye, for these things remember, a ton of one thing just proves a point, one more just adds to it something different is new and is knowledge. Down here the Rio Grande has been like a giant fire hose flowing wildly over millions of years, everything that could have fallen into it has found its way here.

I'm not griping at you JP. Sorry if I came across like that. I'm just excited that I have fellow geeks to commune with!

Thanks for the cycad link. I was in Austin this past weekend at UT's campus, and saw a fossilized cycad stump in the museum there. Totally cool. I wish I had one. The best I'll be able to do is inherit the fossilized palm stump from my dad he got off my grampa's place in Lee Co. I can't tell you how much fossilized wood I got off that place, but then you'd probably already know. :P

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This weekend we have to make a run up to Conroe I have a shipping container at my brothers place loaded with all kinds of "things" even a nice cluster of fossil coconuts found near here. I think all of the palm wood I gave away, though I got to get MikeD some, I'll get that next fall when it's a lot cooler from the valley. Don't know how many cycads I have, never gave them a count. Oh, by the way, don't clean your find just leave it as is.

PS I ain't no GEEK

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I live about 30 mins. east of Conroe. Maybe if it's not inconvienent, we could meet somewhere and you could give this thing a look?

PPS Then what do you call yourself?

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I live about 30 mins. east of Conroe. Maybe if it's not inconvienent, we could meet somewhere and you could give this thing a look?

PPS Then what do you call yourself?

I think his new neighbors call him "that new, long haired hippie cowboy that just moved in on the ranch over there" :rofl:

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It really looks like a limestone concretion to me as well.

If you believe everything you read, perhaps it's time for you to stop reading...

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It is rather interesting looking. Probably need to see it in up close. Some cycad fossils are pretty ugly.

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I think his new neighbors call him "that new, long haired hippie cowboy that just moved in on the ranch over there" :rofl:

Now now Mike, calm down. You would be surprised, they have been watching what I've been doing around the place. I work alone and they have to hire a gang of help just to get off the ground, at first it was you will need help with this and that, now it's how did you do that. We get invited to a lot of Bar B Qs here. NO I'm just Pat..... ;)

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It really looks like a limestone concretion to me as well.

There's a lot of fragments throughout South Texas laying about most just leave where they lay, there is a stone house in the valley that has part of a mammoth skull in it. Just another rock.

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There's a lot of fragments throughout South Texas laying about most just leave where they lay, there is a stone house in the valley that has part of a mammoth skull in it. Just another rock.

All fossils are just another rock. Some "other rocks" have a more interesting history than others...

I'm not saying hers is not interesting, I just gave my opinion. To me, it looks like a rock. :mellow:

If you believe everything you read, perhaps it's time for you to stop reading...

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All fossils are just another rock. Some "other rocks" have a more interesting history than others...

I'm not saying hers is not interesting, I just gave my opinion. To me, it looks like a rock. :mellow:

Then it goes unsaid.

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I think his new neighbors call him "that new, long haired hippie cowboy that just moved in on the ranch over there" :rofl:

They written a song about him to.... '' I'm a Limestone Cowboy''...... :D

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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Guest solius symbiosus

It appears to be a piece of cherty limestone that has had a few decades of weathering on it. The 4th pic appears to have bedding structures(lams). As others have said, it doesn't look "organic", but I'm not familiar with Texas stuff.

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They written a song about him to.... '' I'm a Limestone Cowboy''...... :D

That would be a most excellent screen name...

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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