6/12/2023 0 Comments Cornus mas acta plantarumAlthough their exquisite preservation often allows assignment to genus or even species, most botanical amber inclusions are small in size. However, the botanical inclusions that are present are valuable for understanding the evolution of plant lineages, their palaeobiogeographic history and the amber source area, including habitats, plant diversity and the palaeoclimate 3, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Only 1–3% of all inclusions from late Eocene Baltic amber are of botanical origin 9, 10. Whereas inclusions of arthropods are most abundant, plant inclusions are generally rare. These inclusions are otherwise rare from the fossil record and therefore can yield new insights into palaeoecosystems and their biota ranging from the Triassic up to the Cenozoic 8. The rarity of such large-sized flower inclusions is likely due to the size of the resin outpouring and its properties, which might affect the embedding of plant organs.Īmber preserves organisms three-dimensionally and with great fidelity, including arthropods, fungi, bryophytes, lichens, as well as minute inclusions of seed plants, such as leaves, flowers, catkins and pollen 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. This fossil represents the first record of Symplocaceae from Baltic amber and supports affinities of its flora to evergreen broadleaved and mixed mesophytic forests of present-day East and Southeast Asia. The analysis of pollen extracted from the anthers of the flower inclusion, however, revealed strong affinities to Asian species of Symplocos (Symplocaceae), prompting the new combination Symplocos kowalewskii comb. This fossil was described over 150 years ago as Stewartia kowalewskii (Theaceae) and has never been revised. Here we report an exceptionally large flower from late Eocene Baltic amber, measuring 28 mm across, which is about three times as large as most floral inclusions. However, flower inclusions can be rare and usually do not exceed 10 mm in size. Amber exquisitely preserves the delicate organs of fossil flowers for millions of years.
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