The largest known flower fossil to be preserved in amber, thought to be at least 34 million years old, has been described by scientists as “extraordinary and beautiful”. Measuring nearly 3cm wide, the flower is about three times the size of other preserved blooms.
It comes from an evergreen plant originally called Stewartia Kowalewskii and was discovered in the Baltic forests of northern Europe. The experts said their work, published in the journal Scientific Reports, gives a valuable insight into past life and climate as well as the evolution of forests.
Dr Eva-Maria Sadowski, of the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin and first author on the study, said: “Our new findings about this extraordinary and beautiful flower inclusion are additional puzzle pieces that allow us to decipher the flora of the Baltic amber forest and to understand the climate of the past. This new knowledge helps us to gain deeper insights into the forests of Earth’s history and to understand their evolution in time and space.”
