Middle Indo Pos,Jakarta – The largest flower fossil is nearly 40 million years old trapped in sap. Researchers say this flora is a new species.
A study published on January 12, 2023 in Scientific Reports says this flower can provide clues about climates and ecosystems in the past. Although it was discovered 150 years ago, researchers have only been able to correctly identify the flower at this time.
Initially, the 28-millimeter-wide flower was identified as Stewartia kowalewskii, an ancient flowering evergreen plant that is now extinct. Recent studies have revealed that this flower is not S. kowalewskii and does not even belong to the Stewartia genus.
Researchers call this flower more properly classified in the genus Symplocos, a genus of flowering shrubs and small trees not found in Europe today but widespread in modern East Asia.
Therefore, paleobotanists at the Natural History Museum in Berlin Eva-Maria Sadowski and paleobotanists from the University of Vienna Christa-Charlotte Hofmann who authored the study proposed a new name, Symplocos kowalewskii.
Although they are harder to come by, Sadowski says plants trapped in resinous sap provide a wealth of information.
Reporting from Live Science, this Symplocos kowalewskii flower was discovered in 1872 in the Baltic forest in Northern Europe. This flower fossil is said to be three times larger than the second flower fossil.
This reclassification of flowers is considered by scientists to be important. Originally, it would allow scientists to gain a deeper understanding of the ecological diversity in Baltic amber forests and how Earth’s climate has changed over time.
“This interest is a natural recorder of past climates and ecosystems that can help us gauge how changed our planet was in the past due to natural causes,” said Regan Dunn, a paleobotanist and assistant curator of the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum in California.
“This flower allows us to understand better how our species nature impacts the planet,” he added.(Red)
