Fossil flowers found perfectly preserved in amber represent a new plant species that's a 45-million-year-old relative of coffee, according to new research.
Named Strychnos electri, after the Greek word for amber (electron), the flowers represent the first-ever fossils of an asterid, which is a family of flowering plants that not only later gave us coffee, but also sunflowers, peppers, potatoes, mint — and deadly poisons.
The flowers, described in the journal Nature Plants, belong to the dark side of the family. They are in the genus Strychnos, which ultimately gave rise to some of the world's most famous poisons, including strychnine and curare. The prehistoric flowers' attractiveness and incredible state of preservation belie their toxicity. Read more...
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