Golden Secrets

Today I sat in a Park in Erlangen. By coincidence I discovered something mysterious. Within the branches of a maple tree high above my head hung a big golden maple seed.

As a child we sometimes threw that seeds in the air and watched them rotating down like small helicopters. Furthermore one could split the back end of the seed. Inside there is a sticky fluid and we used it to glue the seed on top of our noses like rhinos.
But what the heck is behind that big golden seed? Who put it up in that tree? I was not able to find out more.
With a little bit of imagination the golden seeds look like the wings of an angel. Probably the angel landed in the maple tree, untied the wings and walked away looking like a normal human being. Hmm, as far as I remember there were some girls around - maybe one of them...