Two Fossil Seeds In A Pod

[piranha]

Here is a fantastic fossil seed pod from the recent collecting trip to the Oligocene flora of the Little Butte Volcanic Series of north-central Oregon. Although not as showy as the flowers, this nifty example is a first for me. This is a legume seed pod: part and counterpart of Cladrastis oregonensis. This species conforms with extant Cladrastis as the orientation of the seeds are parallel to the fruit axis. Today there is one species that survives in southeastern North America and another handful of species described with distribution across eastern Asia.

 

Cladrastis oregonensis

Little Butte Volcanic Series

Oligocene, North-Central Oregon

 

Meyer, H.W., Manchester, S.R. 1997

The Oligocene Bridge Creek Flora of the John Day Formation, Oregon.

University of California Press, 195 pp. 75 plts.  PDF LINK

[Roz]

That pretty cool! That site you have is sure productive!

[Auspex]

The dull thud was my jaw...

That's a crackerjack fossil; congratulations!

[astron]

Hello, Scott.

Thanks for bringing this very nice and interesting fossil, as usual.

Probably I am wrong but the uncovered carbonized bit on the lef and the surrounding somehow whitish rounded area maybe indicate that a third seed is hidden there?

PS: I am still unfamiliar to the new data and I can't use the emoticons in this case...

[piranha]

Thanks Roz, Chas, Astrinos!

[Terry Dactyll]

Scott... Very nice find... Congratulations...

[xonenine]

very nice, is that a leaf, or another small flower, in the bottom corner too?

Edited November 6, 2011 by xonenine

[piranha]

very nice, is that a leaf, or another small flower, in the bottom corner too?

Good eye on the partial Florissantia flower. I was so excited finding the two seeds in a pod that I forgot to mention it...

Thanks Steve & Carmine!