New discovery shows that it is could be a flower, that lived under the water 125-130 million years ago.
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Montsechia vidalii, described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could change many theories about how angiosperms, or plants with the ability to produce flowers, first came to be.
A 130-million-year-old water-based plant could be one of the first to produce flowers, they say.
Experts dated the weed at between 125 million and 130 million years old and showed that despite appearances it was an angiosperm, or flowering plant.
A prehistoric aquatic plant may be the oldest flowering planet ever found, reshaping scientists’ understanding of what the earliest ancestors of flowers might have looked like.
Montsechia lived during the early Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs such as the brachiosaurus and iguanodon walked the Earth.
Flowers are a relatively recent addition to the plant family tree; until they emerged, plants managed to reproduce without growing many-petaled lures for nectar-seeking insects.
The scene is thought to be the oldest evidence of sexual reproduction ever found in a flowering plant. “The reinterpretation of these fossils provides a fascinating new perspective on a major mystery in plant biology”.
“The world of 120 million years ago was one of dynamic biological processes”.
Dilcher and an global team of researchers analysed more than 1000 fossilised remains of Montsechia.
The stem and leaf structure of the plant were obtained from a stone by pouring drop by drop hydrochloric acid on it. The protective layer which covers leaves was also carefully bleached with a chemical mixture.
“This discovery raises significant questions about the early evolutionary history of flowering plants, as well as the role of these plants in the evolution of other plant and animal life”, Dilcher said.
‘There’s still much to be discovered about how a few early species of seed-bearing plants eventually gave rise to the enormous, and attractive, variety of flowers that now populate almost every environment on Earth, ‘ Professor Dilcher added. “The fruit contains a single seed” – the defining characteristic of an angiosperm – “which is borne upside down”.
Also previously proposed as one of the earliest flowers is Archaefructus sinensis, an aquatic plant found in China.
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In fact, the plant probably closely resembled the modern hornwort, which isn’t exactly known for its beauty. It is a dark green aquatic plant that is popularly used in aquariums and koi ponds because of its decorative coarse, tufty leaves. The scientists are now looking to understand more about the species connecting Montsechia and Ceratophyllum and delve deeper into when other species.
