This asterid flower is one of the only fossils of this family ever discovered. [Photo by George Poinar, Jr., courtesy of Oregon State University]
Posted on 02/16/2016 9:19:40 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Researchers today announced in the journal Nature Plants the discovery of the first-ever fossil specimens of an "asterid" - a family of flowering plants that gave us everything from the potato to tomatoes, tobacco, petunias and our morning cup of coffee.
But these two 20-30 million-year-old fossil flowers, found perfectly preserved in a piece of amber, came from the dark side of the asterid family - they belong to the genus Strychnos, which ultimately gave rise to some of the world's most famous poisons, including strychnine and curare.
Poisons that would later find their way into blow-gun weapons, rat control, Sherlock Holmes stories and the movie "Psycho" appear to have had some of their ancestral and biological roots in the prehistoric jungles of what's now the Dominican Republic, researchers say.
"The specimens are beautiful, perfectly preserved fossil flowers, which at one point in time were borne by plants that lived in a steamy tropical forest with both large and small trees, climbing vines, palms, grasses and other vegetation," said George Poinar, Jr., a courtesy professor in the College of Science at Oregon State University, and one of the world's experts on plant and animal life forms preserved in amber...
Asterids, the researchers noted in this study, are among Earth's most important and diverse plants, with 10 orders, 98 families, and about 80,000 species. They represent about one-third of all the Earth's diversity of angiosperms, or flowering plants.
And one ancient genus, which has now been shown to be inherently toxic, existed for millions of years before humans appeared on the planet...
The co-author of this study, Lena Struwe, is an expert on plants in the strychnine family, Loganaceae, and is a plant biologist at Rutgers University.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
This asterid flower is one of the only fossils of this family ever discovered. [Photo by George Poinar, Jr., courtesy of Oregon State University]
Looks like a Georgia O’Keeffe painting.
I would be worried about dating an expert on plants in the strychnine family. Extremely worried, especially when offered a cup of tea. Just don't upset such an expert.
Pure conjecture.
Looks like a Georgia O’Keeffe painting.
Yes it does.
You have a dirty mind.
It does, except it may be more attractive than her work. :’)
Another flower in the 5 lobe famila is Datura stramonium (I think also called Angel Trumpet flower), see link below. It has poisonous, hallucinogenic, and medicinal properties. It has been used for asthma attacks, and as a substitute for opium. An interesting plant as an ornamental, but use for other things with great caution.
Same family; the datura flowers are large and showy plants (and in frost-free climates can be kept year around to shrub out), the blossoms smell terrific though they don’t last long, and if they fruit, do not eat them, even though they look like eggplants (another relative, see the keywords). The fruit is also known as the “zombie cucumber” and is the source of the drug described in “Serpent and the Rainbow”.
Always polite to ping the one you are talking about! ;)
lol
Duuuuude....what?😆
Some are beautiful, some not so much. Thanks.
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