Description

Flower
Early Eocene
Green River Formation
Rio Blanco, Colorado, USA

17mm catkin on 43mm slab.

This is a plant fossil of a genus possibly related to date palm trees.  A catkin is a slender, cylindrical flower cluster seen in many plant families.

You can just make out the tiny flowers. Interesting oddball piece for a fossil plant collector.

For more information, see:

Allen, S.E.  2015.
Fossil Palm Flowers from the Eocene of the Rocky Mountain Region with Affinities to Phoenix L. (Arecaceae: Coryphoideae).  International Journal of Plant Sciences,  Vol. 176, No. 6 (July/August 2015), pp. 586-596.