The most puzzling observation from the Sahara at the moment

Nature Talk
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Hi everyone.

Wasn’t sure if this is the correct place to post this.

I have never posted something to ask help for an ID. But this observtion blows my mind. Everytime.

There have been so many theories about this one. A calcified young fossil, a fungus, a coral, a plant (Pallenis, but I do not think so)…

I have never seen such a structure. The observation has already 70 comments but we’re still waiting for the enlightment haha

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/56944372

Sometimes I ask myself if this ‘thing’ is even real since it’s the only observation of this user from Libya. Maybe he wants to keep us puzzled

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Looks like a fungus to me. Thanks for sharing!

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Just for fun I initiated a discussion with ChatGPT after uploading the image. After going off at a tangent I think it might, at the end, have got close to an identification.

Here’s the transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jf-Sjll5bHE_RKWEvRcr77fnliMMw4cJ/view?usp=sharing

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Better format here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vucXDgozaVK9BQGNV-NHIqnL5Zbyyq_y/view?usp=sharing

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I’m familiar with fungi and plants and, to some extent, corals. To me, it is obviously an angiosperm.

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We have mycologists and marine biologists on that thread already. Both options eliminated.

Have reached consensus at dicot. And it has been mystifying people since ancient rock art! Libya is a not an observose country, so I enjoy that we have more obs, observers and identifiers there in recent years.

Fossilised - corallite cup - does not quite match ? Woody skeleton of plant stems, and gone to seed daisy flowers …

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i’m not a specialist but it looks like a half eaten then dead and maybe mineralized plant, i would bet on a desert asteraceae, with short stem and maybe a lot of trichomes, looking like that specie: Observations · iNaturalist and it had opened flowers, that gave the flat plateforms with dots.

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But Asteraceae don’t generally branch from within the capitulum.

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Stressed by a desert environment the flowers emerged tightly pressed together, but actually branching lower down?

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Indeed the consensus seems to be subfossilized plant tissue. Very cool!

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See explanation about the origin of this photo, in this comment from the user.

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I have been following this observation for a long, long time. It’s fascinating! I honestly think this is iNat at its best too–experts conversing and considering possibilities, allowing people to really see the process. I hope it’s identified someday.

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I’ve never seen this observation before.

I’m pretty sure this is something in Asteraceae(especially with the Fibonacci spirals) but something is off. It would be helpful to know if this was a solid calcareous/osseous organism or if this was just a long-dead bleached Asteraceae that wouldn’t be rock-solid to the touch.

Any chance this is a fossilized plant from pre-Sahara era?

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Also, shouldn’t this observation be marked “No recent evidence of organism” since this is likely pre-1900 date of death?

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But only after someone who can, convinces us it is a fossil, not simply a desert skeleton of a plant. If a ‘resurrection’ plant, it could still be alive deep in the sand.

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We … have … RG at sp after 3 years of intense discussion! I am retiring from iNat :rofl:

Daisy gone to seed = Fruit. Desert Daisy resting and aestivating, not a fossil. Winter annual.

Thank you @marcoschmidtffm admin of Flora of Africa

From rock art
to herbarium specimen from Jordan
to this has underground! fruits too
Desert Daisy wins.

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I withdrew the annotation

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