Evidence of Oldest Flower Discovered

Researchers believe they have discovered fossil evidence of the world’s oldest flower, at 142 million years: a spindly twig with peapod-shaped fruit and a woody stem. The fossil is from an early evolutionary stage when plants were just developing the flowering system that later evolved into fruit, grain, brilliantly colored and fragrant flowers and food for many animals, said David Dilcher, a University of Florida biology professor. “It would have been a very different world if early flowering plants like this one had not been successful,” said Dilcher, co-author of a study in the journal Science.