A rare flower finally reaches its moment in the sun, almost 100 million years after it bloomed.
Researchers at Oregon State University have identified a new species of angiosperm or flowering plant from the Cretaceous period that has been preserved in a piece of amber found in what is now Myanmar.
Nicknamed Valviloculus pleristaminis, it belongs to the laurel family and is related to the black-hearted sassafras found in Australia.
Myanmar and Australia are more than 4,000 miles from the ocean, but at the time this flower was wrapped in resin, they were part of a supercontinent known as Gondwanaland.
The discovery of V. pleristaminis suggests the continental plate on which it was separated from Gondwanaland much later than previously theorized.
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Researchers at OSU have discovered Valviloculus pleristaminis, a new species and genus, caught inside the amber 100 million years ago. The little male flower has dozens of stamens arranged in a spiral with their heads producing pollen directed towards the sky
“It’s not really a Christmas flower, but it’s a beauty, especially since it was part of a forest that existed nearly 100 million years ago,” said George Poinar Jr., a paleontologist in the Department of Integrative Biology of OSU.
“The male flower is small, about 2 millimeters wide, but has about 50 stamens arranged like a spiral, with the anthers facing the sky.”
The stamina is the part of the male flower that produces pollen, while the anther is the pollen-producing head of the stamen.
“Despite being so small, the details that remain are astonishing,” said Poinar, author of a report on the discovery in the Journal of the Texas Institute of Botanical Research.
The flower bloomed on the old supercontinent Gondwanaland and was surrounded by amber, theorizes Poinar, before taking a walk on a continental plate known as the West Burma block, as it moved slowly 4,000 miles away.
OSU paleontologist George Poinar Jr. supports a piece of amber. The work of the world-renowned expert in the analysis of plants and animals found in prehistoric substance inspired Michael Crichton to write Jurassic Park.
He and his colleagues at OSU and the Department of Agriculture named the flower – which is both a new genus and a new species – Valviloculus pleristaminis.
The valve is the Latin term for the leaf on a folding door, loculus means “compartment”, plerus refers to “many”, and staminis reflects dozens of male sexual organs of the flower.
The specimen was probably part of a group on a plant with similar flowers, Poinar added, “some probably female.”
In addition to its beauty, the fossilized flower is noteworthy for its journey: It bloomed on the old supercontinent Gondwanaland and was surrounded by amber before taking a walk on a continental shelf known as the West Burma Block.
That plate moved slowly from Australia to Southeast Asia, a 4,000-mile journey.
There are ongoing debates about when the West Burma bloc erupted from Gondwanaland, which eventually split into Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula.
Some geologists date it 500 million years ago, while others theorize that it was closer to 200 million years ago.
But, according to Poinar, angiosperms evolved and diversified only about 100 million years ago.
That means the West Burma bloc could not have broken before, he said, “which is much later than suggested.”
Poinar is a world-renowned expert in the analysis of amber plants and animals – his work inspired Michael Crichton to write Jurassic Park.
In 2013, Poinar discovered a piece of amber with the oldest evidence of sexual reproduction in a flowering plant, a group of 18 small flowers from the Cretaceous period.
The moment of the freezing frame includes microscopic tubes that grow from pollen grains and enter the stigma, part of the female reproductive system of the flower.