The largest fossil flower ever wrapped in Baltic amber (Source: Carola Radke, Berlin Nature Museum). Photo courtesy of Springer Nature
Beijing, Jan. 13 (Zhongxin.com) -- Researchers used the latest images to record a known maximized stone flower preserved in amber, which is 28 millimeters in diameter and three times the size of other fossil flowers, according to a new fossil research paper published in Scientific Reports, an open-access academic journal owned by Springer Nature.
The largest fossil flower ever wrapped in Baltic amber (Source: Carola Radke, Berlin Nature Museum). Photo courtesy of Springer Nature
Wrapped in amber from the Baltic forests of northern Europe, the fossil flower dates back nearly 40 million years and is thought to come from an ancient flowering evergreen originally named Stewartia kowalewskii.
The largest fossil flower ever wrapped in Baltic amber (Source: Carola Radke, Berlin Nature Museum). Photo courtesy of Springer Nature
The paper's authors, Eva-Maria Sadowski and Christa-Charlotte Hofmann of the Natural History Museum in Berlin, Germany, re-analyzed the unusually large fossil flower, which was first described and named in 1872. This fossil flower dates back to the late Eocene, between 38 million and 33.9 million years ago. The authors extracted pollen from the fossil sample, and after analysis, the fossil flower was found to be a close relative of an Asian species called Symplocos, so they proposed that the flower be renamed Symplocos kowalewskii.
The authors note that Symplocos kowalewskii's rare size may have come from a massive exudation of resin that wrapped the flower and formed amber. They believe that the resin's properties may help prevent organic matter from growing on the flower and causing damage. (End)