Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    Menu
    Natural Sciences
    Health
    History & Humanities
    Space & Astronomy
    Technology
    Culture
    Resources
    Natural Sciences

    Physics

    • Matter and Energy
    • Quantum Mechanics
    • Thermodynamics

    Chemistry

    • Periodic Table
    • Applied Chemistry
    • Materials
    • Physical Chemistry

    Biology

    • Anatomy
    • Biochemistry
    • Ecology
    • Genetics
    • Microbiology
    • Plants and Fungi

    Geology and Paleontology

    • Planet Earth
    • Earth Dynamics
    • Rocks and Minerals
    • Volcanoes
    • Dinosaurs
    • Fossils

    Animals

    • Mammals
    • Birds
    • Fish
    • Reptiles
    • Amphibians
    • Invertebrates
    • Pets
    • Conservation
    • Animals Facts

    Climate and Weather

    • Climate Change
    • Weather and Atmosphere

    Geography

    Mathematics

    Health
    • Drugs
    • Diseases and Conditions
    • Human Body
    • Mind and Brain
    • Food and Nutrition
    • Wellness
    History & Humanities
    • Anthropology
    • Archaeology
    • Economics
    • History
    • People
    • Sociology
    Space & Astronomy
    • The Solar System
    • The Sun
    • The Moon
    • Planets
    • Asteroids, Meteors and Comets
    • Astronomy
    • Astrophysics
    • Cosmology
    • Exoplanets and Alien Life
    • Spaceflight and Exploration
    Technology
    • Computer Science & IT
    • Engineering
    • Inventions
    • Sustainability
    • Renewable Energy
    • Green Living
    Culture
    • Culture and Society
    • Bizarre Stories
    • Lifestyle
    • Art and Music
    • Gaming
    • Books
    • Movies and Shows
    Resources
    • How To
    • Science Careers
    • Metascience
    • Fringe Science
    • Science Experiments
    • School and Study
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Science

The world’s oldest flower discovered in China

This article is part of our Fossil Friday series, where we present exciting, recent findings from the world of paleontology -- on a Friday.

Alexandru Micu by Alexandru Micu
September 9, 2022
in Fossil Friday, Science

This article is part of our Fossil Friday series, where we present fresh and exciting findings from the world of paleontology — on a Friday. See more stories from this series here.

A new discovery could rewrite what we know about the evolution of flowering plants.

Florigerminis jurassica and its details. Image credits Da-Fang Cui et al., (2022), GSL.

Researchers have uncovered the earliest known example of a flower bud. The fossilized plant was discovered in the Inner Mongolia region of China and dated 164 million years ago. This pushes back on our accepted timeline for the evolution of flowering plants by quite a margin — several million years — back into the Jurassic.

The fossil itself belongs to the newly-christened Florigerminis jurassica species. It contains a stem, a leafy branch, bulbous fruit, and a flower bud around 3 square millimeters in size. It is 4.2 centimeters (1.7 inches) long and 2 cm (0.8 inches) wide.

Oldtimey flowers

“Many paleobotanists are surprised [by the fossil], as it is quite different from what is stated in books,” senior author Xin Wang, a researcher at Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), told Live Science. “But I am not so surprised”.

Plants belong to two broad families: flowering plants (angiosperms) and non-flowering plants (gymnosperms). Of these two, gymnosperms were the first to evolve. The presence of a flower bud in the newly-discovered fossil is a clear indicator that it was an angiosperm; its age pushes the earliest known occurrence of this family back into the Jurassic (201-145 million years ago). Up to now, we only had evidence of flowering plants going back to the Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago).

Although this isn’t the oldest possible example of a flowering plant we’ve found to date, it is the oldest uncontested example of such a plant. Flowers are very delicate and as such extremely rare to fossilize. The presence of a flower bud and fruit in this fossil, however, dispels any doubt that we are looking at an angiosperm. Other findings are less clear and researchers are still debating whether they are flowers or not.

There are quite significant implications of this finding in the world of paleontology. Up to now, researchers simply assumed any plant that dated to before the Cretaceous was a gymnosperm; this assumption will need to be looked at, and several specimens

Still, the researchers believe that angiosperms were relatively uncommon and probably geographically isolated during their early days, judging from how rare evidence of them is in the fossil record up to today. It’s possible that F. jurassica was one of the first species of angiosperms to appear, as well.

The paper “A Jurassic flower bud from China” has been published in the journal Geological Society of London.

Was this helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
Related posts:
  1. World’s oldest flower found: it’s 125 million years old, and it raises some hard questions
  2. Titan penis flower blooms in one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world
  3. Kepler — the spacecraft that discovered thousands of alien worlds — is running on its last drops of fuel
  4. Fossil Friday: Oldest fossil forest discovered in Asia
  5. Fossil Friday: the oldest kind-of-bat species seen so far, described from set of teeth found in China

ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • More
  • About Us

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t you want to get smarter every day?

YES, sign me up!

Over 35,000 subscribers can’t be wrong. Don’t worry, we never spam. By signing up you agree to our privacy policy.

✕
ZME Science News

FREE
VIEW