Thanks BenLurkin. [singing] 99 million year old flower in amber, 99 million year old flower...
Posted on 12/23/2020 5:43:13 PM PST by BenLurkin
The new fossil flower, named Valviloculus pleristaminis, belongs to the order Laurales, its closest affinities being with the families Monimiaceae and Atherospermataceae.
The specimen of Valviloculus pleristaminis has an egg-shaped, hollow floral cup (part of the flower from which the stamens emanate); an outer layer consisting of six petal-like components known as tepals; and two-chamber anthers, with pollen sacs that split open via laterally hinged valves.
It became encased in amber on the supercontinent of Gondwana and rafted on a continental plate some 6,450 km (4,000 miles) across the ocean from Australia to Southeast Asia.
Geologists have been debating just when this chunk of land — known as the West Burma Block — broke away from Gondwana.
Some scientists believe it was 200 million years ago; others claim it was more like 500 million years ago.
“Since angiosperms only evolved and diversified about 100 million years ago, the West Burma Block could not have broken off from Gondwana before then, which is much later than dates that have been suggested by geologists,” Professor Poinar said.
The discovery is described in a paper in the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.
(Excerpt) Read more at sci-news.com ...
Some people call pine resin “pine pitch.”
Pinus rigida, the Pitch Pine, is a little tree native to the Eastern US in the yellow pine category, for example, not much use for lumber as it is often crooked, but a source for pine pitch and turpentine.
Thats great. Thx for posting.
It will show up on Antique Road Show, worth only about $5,000 - $10,000 because it was improperly cleaned. Would’ve been worth about half a billion dollars otherwise.
Yes it was found in amber,
Yes it’s a flower,
But how do you know that it’s 99 million years old?
The last part has nothing to do with science.
Pitch is the form of tree extrusion that falls between liquid sap and semisolid resin.
Thanks BenLurkin. [singing] 99 million year old flower in amber, 99 million year old flower...
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