[Rockhounds] 99 million-year-old flowers found perfectly preserved in amber bloomed at the feet of dinosaurs

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Flowers discovered perfectly preserved in globs of amber bloomed at the
feet of dinosaurs, suggesting that some flowering plants in South Africa
today have remained unchanged for 99 million years, a new study reveals.
The two flowers once bloomed in what is now Myanmar and may shed light on
how flowering plants evolved -- a major episode in the history of life that
was once described by Charles Darwin as an "abominable mystery."
Flowers are ephemeral: They bloom, transform into a fruit and then
disappear. As such, ancient flowers aren't well represented in the fossil
record, making these ancient blooms -- and the history they carry with them
-- particularly precious.


"Leaves are generally produced in larger numbers than flowers and are much
more robust -- they have a higher preservation potential. A leaf is discarded
'as is' at the end of its useful life, while a flower transforms into a
fruit, which then gets eaten or disintegrates as part of the seed dispersal
process," said study author Robert Spicer, a professor emeritus in the
School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences at The Open University
in the United Kingdom.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/01/asia/ancient-flowers-amber-scn/index.html