Fossil fruit. It's real?

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

Good evening to all! This fossil is attributed as being a legitimate fossil fruit. According to the seller, it is of the species: Eomastixia saxonica (Pliocene - Germany). This is real?

 

 

 

[piranha]

Yes, a real fossil!  Why would it be fake?

[Tidgy's Dad]

I think it's real. 

There are a few of these on the net. 

But i don't think it would taste very nice. 

[piranha]

Also, this ebay seller is one of the best.  100% 

[izak_]

Nice fossil!

[doushantuo]

Probably from the Willershausen Lagerstatt.First thing that came to my mind when i read "Pliocene,Germany"

Gregor described mastixoid fruits,Mai ,Kvacek and vandenBurgh as well,and Holy(THAT'S Franticek Holy with some diacritics attached,well-known Czech paleobotanist,no longer with us)

[Ginkgojerry]

Yes, why not? ... Pliocene is not so long ago. Too bad it's not in matrix.

I found the following fossil in 2002 in a Cretaceous bed along with ginkgo and fern fossils. I don't even know what kind of fruit it is but I'm sure it is fruit.fruit. Just by studying the stem. And primitive fruit at that. Any members up on Cretaceous plants?

 

 

 

[Ginkgojerry]

Actually, I just remembered thinking it was ginkgo because of seeds and flowers that I also found at this site. 

[izak_]

12 minutes ago, Ginkgojerry said:

Actually, I just remembered thinking it was ginkgo because of seeds and flowers that I also found at this site. 

Cretaceous flowers?? We need pics  

[Ginkgojerry]

Sure Foozil, ... I will hunt for them. It's been a long time since I've looked at them. But you might be disappoint because they don't look like what you think of as a flower. 

Its sort of a cross between a cone and a raceme. And it's the male ones. And just like conifers today, the male ones all fall off after they are done.  I have never found the unfertilized female ovules .. and likely they all become fruit anyway. In modern ginkgo the female only produces two ovules per stem but since there are so many extinct species, I believe there could have been these clusters of small fruit. 

I will post what I believe are the spent male "cones" ... give me time to find them.

[Ginkgojerry]

Here's the reproductive structures of modern ginkgo. Notice the female only has two ovules. The male has more of a raceme than a cone.

[Ginkgojerry]

Also, I should point out that ginkgo fruit are very soft in texture but have a hard nut or seed in the center... like a cherry. 

At this site I do find lots of small round nuts... I believe they are the nuts anyway. And lots of what I think are the spent male "cones".

And that's what I would expect to find. I would not expect the soft fruit to ever be fossilized at all. 

And that's why I'm excited that the fruit I found could be this rare case in where the fruit managed to become a fossil. This is the only one specimen I ever found of it's kind. I want to believe it's ginkgo fruit.

[Ginkgojerry]

This is my point:

The first image is a cherry.

The second image is also a cherry.

You see where I'm going with this?

Modern ginkgo has only one species.

And I don't know that anyone has found fossil ginkgo fruit.