Description

Middle Miocene (Seldovian)
Sucker Creek Formation – Sucker Creek Flora
Malheur County, Oregon, USA
59mm slab with 13mm winged seed and 14mm nut
Seed,

Isolated seeds are difficult-to-impossible to identify if they are not known from specimens connected to the rest of the plant.  This is often the case with extinct plants from the Paleozoic or Mesozoic with no modern relatives from the Paleozoic and Mesozoic Eras or with Cenozoic plants that have very similar seeds.

A “winged seed” bears an extended surface that allows them to whirl 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 successfully rather than just drop next to the tree it fell from where it has less of a chance of growing.

Here is an association piece for the plant collector.