Description

Middle Miocene (Seldovian)
Sucker Creek Formation – Sucker Creek Flora
Malheur County, Oregon, USA
14mm winged seed on 40mm slab
Seed,

This unidentified seed was buried when the climate in Oregon was warmer than it is now.  The Early to Middle Miocene was a warmer interval than the Oligocene or the Late Miocene – just before the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum, an interval of prolonged warming (approx. 14-16 million years ago) in not only shallow seas and coasts but also in the deep ocean and at higher latitudes.  The MMCO ended up being a brief interruption in an overall cooling trend that started in the Middle Eocene and led to the ices ages of the Pleistocene.

A “winged seed” bears an extended surface that allows them to spin in the air on the way to the ground like a helicopter.  If it catches even a light breeze, it might drift to an open patch of ground where it can sprout and  get enough sun and water to grow.

Here is an affordable plant specimen for a casual science enthusiast ripe for a new hobby.