In order to facilitate paleobotanical investigations Professor S. Bortenschlager of the Department of Botany of the University of Innsbruck (Austria) suggested the compilation of a comprehensive seed atlas. The seeds used for SEM studies were taken from the seed collection of the Department of Botany of the University of Innsbruck. Seeds display a range of different features which SEM can make visible. A key entirely based on such SEM details was elaborated for species determination.