|
 Scientists announced on Monday the discovery of the flower that
lived 20 million to 30 million years ago, named Strychnos electri,
inside amber dug out of the side of a mountain in the Dominican
Republic.
It was a member of a group of flowers that are today the source of
the poisons strychnine and curare. According to the researchers, it
also likely boasted toxic compounds.
The scientists found two examples of the small tubular-shaped
flower, measuring roughly four-tenths of an inch (10 mm), in the
tan-colored amber, and were amazed at the remarkable state of
preservation, among the best of any fossil flower.
"These amber pieces are like time capsules, a frozen moment of life
that we can now relive and study," Rutgers University botanist Lena
Struwe said. "The flower is incredibly well-preserved, not
distorted, not compressed, not fragmented into pieces, but looks
like it just fell off its branch and dropped into sticky resin."
The flowers lived in a tropical, humid forest alongside a variety of
trees, shrubs, grasses and climbing vines, said Oregon State
University entomologist and amber expert George Poinar.
"Fossil flowers are rare under any circumstances," Poinar said. "And
those in amber provide the only evidence of (ancient) tropical
flowers, since the rapid decay of such delicate objects under
conditions of high heat and humidity prevents their preservation in
sedimentary deposits," the type of rock in which fossils are found.
[to top of second column] |
Amber represents a rich source of entombed fossils dating back as
far as 130 million years, including mosquitoes and sand flies,
spiders, millipedes, ticks, frogs, lizards and salamanders. In the
book "Jurassic Park" and the movies it inspired, it was blood taken
from the guts of mosquitoes that provided the DNA needed to create
dinosaurs.
Strychnos electri is part of one of the three largest evolutionary
lineages of flowering plants, known as the asterids, which also
includes the sunflower, potato, coffee and mint families.
"That this piece of amber has survived this intact for so many
millions of years and then was found and ended up in our hands to be
used for research is serendipitous and fantastic," Struwe said.
The research was published in the journal Nature Plants.
(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Peter Cooney)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
