A rare flower finally gets its moment in the sun, nearly 100 million years after it blossomed.
Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered a new species of angiosperm or flowering plant from the Cretaceous Period preserved in an amber shard found in what is now Myanmar.
Called Valviloculus pleristaminis, it belongs to the laurel family and is related to the black-hearted sassafras found in Australia.
Myanmar and Australia are divided by more than 4,000 miles of ocean, but when this flower was in resin, they were part of a supercontinent known as Gondwanaland.
The discovery of V. pleristaminis suggests that the continental plate on which it was located separated from Gondwanaland much later than previously believed.
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Researchers at OSU discovered Valviloculus pleristaminis, a new species and genus trapped in amber from 100 million years ago. The small male flower has dozens of stamens arranged in a spiral with their pollen-producing heads facing the sky
“This isn’t quite a Christmas flower, but it’s a beauty, especially considering that it was part of a forest that existed nearly 100 million years ago,” said George Poinar Jr., a paleontologist at OSU’s Department of Integrative Biology.
“The male flower is small, about 2 millimeters wide, but has about fifty stamens arranged spirally, with anthers pointing towards the sky.”
The stamen 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 are still astonishing,” said Poinar, author of a report on the discovery in the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.
The flower thrived on the ancient supercontinent of Gondwanaland and was encased in amber, Poinar theorizes, before taking a ride on a continental plate known as the West Burma Block as it slowly shifted 4,000 miles away.
OSU paleontologist George Poinar Jr. holds up a piece of amber. The work of the world-renowned expert in analyzing plants and animals in prehistoric substance inspired Michael Crichton to write Jurassic Park.
He and his colleagues at OSU and the Ministry of Agriculture named the flower – which is both a new genus and a new species – Valviloculus pleristaminis.
Valva is the Latin term for the leaf on a folding door, loculus means ‘compartment’, plerus refers to ‘much’ and staminis reflects the flower’s dozens of male sex organs.
The specimen was likely part of a cluster on a plant with similar flowers, Poinar added, “possibly a female.”
In addition to its beauty, the petrified flower is notable for the journey it took: it thrived on the ancient supercontinent of Gondwanaland and was enveloped in amber before taking a ride on a continental plate known as the West Burma Block.
That record slowly shifted from Australia to Southeast Asia, a journey of 4,000 miles.
There is a debate as to when the Western Burma Bloc split off from Gondwanaland, which eventually splintered into Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, the Indian Subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula.
Some geologists have put the date at 500 million years ago, while others think it was closer to 200 million years ago.
But, according to Poinar, angiosperms didn’t evolve and diversify until about 100 million years ago.
That means the Western Burma bloc couldn’t have been pulled down sooner, he said, “and that’s much later than the proposed dates.”
Poinar is a world-renowned expert in analyzing plants and animals in amber. 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 cluster of 18 small Cretaceous flowers.
The stationary moment in time comprises microscopic tubes that grow from pollen grains and penetrate the stigma, part of the flower’s female reproductive system.