Description

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

Rare 6mm palm flower on 50mm slab.

Phoenix is a plant genus containing various date palms and dates back to the Late Cretaceous.  It eventually died out in North America as climates trended cooler across the continent.  It still lives today in northern Africa and Asia.

A tiny flower for the fossil plant specialist.

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.