• Earliest flower bud

    From Pandora@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jan 16 13:52:27 2022
    A Jurassic flower bud from China

    Abstract

    Angiosperms may be distinguished from their gymnosperm peers by their
    flowers, and thus a flower is a good proxy of fossil angiosperms.
    However, flowers and their parts are usually too frail to be preserved
    in the fossil record. This makes the origin of angiosperms and their
    flowers the foci of controversy in botany. Eliminating such botanical controversies can only be achieved by studying related plant fossils.
    Applying routine scanning electron microscopy, light microscopy and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) technologies, we document a
    fossil flower bud, Florigerminis jurassica gen. et sp. nov., from the
    Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China. This fossil includes not only a
    leafy branch but also physically connected fruit and flower bud. The developmentally interpolated existence of a blooming flower between
    the flower bud and mature fruit in Florigerminis suggests that
    angiosperm flowers were present in the Jurassic, in agreement with
    recent botanical progress. Florigerminis jurassica underscores the
    presence of angiosperms in the Jurassic and demands a rethinking of
    angiosperm evolution.

    Open access: https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/early/2022/01/04/SP521-2021-122

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