Ancient flower preserved in amber #fossil #ancient

While this is news, it’s also the art of the natural world – a 40 million year old world.

Amber sometimes contains animals or plant matter that became caught in the resin as it was secreted. Insects, spiders and even their webs, annelids, frogs, crustaceans, bacteria and amoebae, marine microfossils, wood, flowers and fruit, hair, feathers and other small organisms. Wikipedia

Now, a fossil in amber that was discovered 150 years ago has been re-examined and reclassified based on pollen extracted from the plant. The results are available at nature.com, and the fossil is seen here in a screen shot:

It’s the largest such fossil. I’m no botanist, so I may be missing a lot, but I can appreciate the beauty.