Trinity News Daily - U.S. and World Latest News from Technology, Entertainment, Health and Sports

Breaking Daily News and Current Events

Thursday, March 4, 2021
Log in
  • Headlines
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • U.S.
  • World
  • Latest News
    • Larry David Decided the Return of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ with New Season
    • Spiders Start to Fly in Chicago, As Their Season Begins
    • Hummingbird Vision Is Adapted To High-Speed Flight
    • Kronos Is The Latest Nickname For 2 Planet Eating Stars
    • The Ecosystem of Teller Lake in Colorado Threatened by Thousands of Goldfish
    • Researchers Dream of a World Without Mosquitoes
    • NASA Shares Spectacular Pic of Earthrise over Moon
    • The Ozone Layer is Repairing Itself
    • Giraffes Are In Danger Of Becoming Extinct In The Wild
    • Pregnant Woman Stabbed And Her Unborn Child Removed From Her Belly

Pages

  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Trinity News Daily Staff
  • Who We Are

Recent Posts

  • Documentary Tells Story of Three Identical Strangers June 29, 2018
  • First Look at DiCaprio and Pitt in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” June 28, 2018
  • Jared Leto to Star in Spider-Man Spinoff “Morbius” June 28, 2018
  • Toby Kebbell Joins Vin Diesel’s Bloodshot June 27, 2018
  • New Record-Breaking Number of Academy Members Announced June 26, 2018
  • Actress Heather Locklear Arrested Once Again June 26, 2018
  • Game of Thrones’ Rose Leslie and Kit Harington Got Married June 25, 2018

Researchers Believe they Found the Oldest Known Flowering Plant

August 19, 2015 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Email, RSS Follow
Researchers Believe they Found the Oldest Known Flowering Plant

Fossilized Montsechia vidalii

Researchers at the Indiana University Bloomington have recently classified Montsechia vidalii, a long-gone aquatic plant who used to live in the lakes of the mountain ranges of the Iberian Peninsula, as the oldest type of flowering plant ever discovered on earth.

The new findings challenge previous theories that angiospermes were the earliest flowering plants on our planet. A paper on the findings was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on Monday.

Researchers believe that the plant was quite common in the freshwater lakes located in the mountain ranges of Spain. Fossilized traces of the plant were first discovered at the beginning of 20th century in the lime deposits located in the center of the Iberian Peninsula and near the Spanish-French border.

The latest findings suggest that Montsechia vidalii is even older than Archaefructus sinensis, another ancient flower first discovered in China. On the other hand, researchers acknowledged that they cannot tell for sure what plant was the genuine ‘first flower.’

“A ‘first flower’ is technically a myth […],”

explained David Dilcher of IU and lead author of the recent study.

He also asserted that all evidence points out that the new flower is older if not contemporary to its Chinese counterpart. Researchers noted, however, that plant fossils were often mislabeled or misinterpreted over the course of years.

So, the team believes that their interpretation is the most accurate because they base their assumptions on the data gathered on over 1,000 fossils of Montsechia. The fossilized traces were extracted from limestone by pouring hydrochloric acid on every sample. The flowers’ cuticles were also carefully bleached by applying a blend of potassium chlorate and nitric acid.

All samples were analyzed with help of three different optical instruments – an electron microscope, a stereomicroscope, and a light microscope. Researchers however didn’t perform any carbon isotope ratio tests to find the plants’ age. They assumed that the flowers had the age of the specimens found in the same geologic layer.

Researchers think that the plant is contemporary with several dinosaur species including the iguanodon and the brachiosaurus. Unfortunately, the team found no traces of DNA, so a comprehensive analysis couldn’t be conducted in any case.

But the latest analysis found that Montsechia was a flower, though it doesn’t possess the distinctive features of a flowering plant and does not produce pollen to attract insects. Instead, it lived its entire life underwater and it bore fruits that were borne upside down, researchers noted.

Image Source: Iefimerida

Email, RSS Follow

Filed Under: Science

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 8 other subscribers

Recent Articles

cannabis plants

Prototype App Could Tell the Actual Effects of Cannabis on a Person

April 26, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Viagra pill

Viagra Might Help Fight Cancer (Study)

April 12, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Opioids in a plastic container.

Opioids Just As Effective As Over The Counter Drugs For Treating Chronic Pain (Study)

March 8, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Child being exposed to bright lights from a tablet.

Bright Lights Before Bedtime Can Prevent Kids From Going To Sleep (Study)

March 6, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Several opioid pills laid on a black surface.

The Opioid Pandemic Affects More and More US Children (Study)

March 5, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Close-up of a colon cancer cell.

Eating Nuts May Help Avoid Colon Cancer (Study)

March 1, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Woman suffering from obesity.

Prolonged Obesity Increases Risk Of Heart Disease (Study)

February 22, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Glass of red wine.

Drinking Red Wine May Keep Teeth And Gums Healthy (Study)

February 21, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Single fathers have higher mortality risk.

Mortality Rate For Single Fathers Is Surprisingly High (Study)

February 15, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Woman with her male partner on a field.

Your Partner Can Cheat On You Even If They’re Sexually Satisfied (Study)

February 13, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Cloth embroidered by a person suffering from schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia Patients Can Manage Verbal Hallucinations By Playing A Video Game

February 12, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

mouse on leaf in tree

Researchers are Testing a Cancer Vaccine for Human Usage (Study)

February 4, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

white pills on white surface

FDA Changes Packaging of Anti-Diarrhea Drug to Avoid Abuse

January 31, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Drinking too much alcohol during your teen years was potentially linked to liver diseases later on.

Liver Diseases Likelier In People Who Drank Large Amounts Of Alcohol In Their Adolescence

January 22, 2018 By Sandy Morton Leave a Comment

Related Articles

  • Sistine Chapel God

    Most People Think God Looks Like Them (Study)

    Jun 13, 2018
  • Mars colored in red and bluish hues

    Ancient Martian Lake Rocks Might Hold Evidence for Life on the Red Planet (Study)

    May 29, 2018
  • work of Rembrandt

    Art Dealer Claims He Discovered A New Rembrandt

    May 22, 2018
  • giant sloth skeleton

    Ancient Humans Were Hunting Giant Sloths (Study)

    Apr 27, 2018
  • diamonds in a meteorite

    Meteorite Diamonds Might Have Come from Ancient Solar System (Study)

    Apr 18, 2018
  • Artist's rendering of planet Nibiru

    Conspiracy Theorists Claim Biblical Rapture Will Happen This Month

    Apr 12, 2018
  • Hubble Space Telescope

    Cosmic Alignment Reveals Most Distant Star

    Apr 3, 2018
  • Isle of Skye

    Isle of Skye Dinosaur Tracks, Of “Global Importance” (Study)

    Apr 3, 2018
  • Earth's atmosphere

    China’s Falling Space Lab Breaks Up Over Pacific

    Apr 2, 2018
  • dark matter in space

    Ghostly Galaxy Has Almost No Dark Matter (Study)

    Mar 29, 2018

Categories

  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Headlines
  • Health
  • Nature
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • U.S.
  • Uncategorized
  • World

Copyright © 2021 TrinityNewsDaily.com

About · Staff · Terms and Conditions · Privacy Policy

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more.