This large and aesthetic palm flower inflorescence derives from the Green River Formation, an area once bursting with flora and fauna that comprised more than 25,000 square miles (65,000 sq. km) of interconnected subtropical lakes spread across the current states of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Today, the region of the Green River Fo🦩rmation known as "Fossil Lake" boasts some of the most abundant and well-preserved freshwater fossils anywhere in the world.

The majority of these preserved fossil specimens are fauna, not flora, with palms being exceptionally scarce due to the fact that their soft material was highly susceptible to decomposition prior to fossilization. As a result, p🔯alms are some of the most prized fossils in the geologic record, with this entire palm flower inflorescence serving as a stunning repr🍒esentation of plant life in the Early Eocene.