After many years of researching fossils of a plant species dating back over 125 million years and living underwater, American scientists have recently concluded that this is likely the world’s first flowering plant.
In a research paper published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists reported that this plant is named Montsechia vidalii and they have studied over 1,000 fossil samples of this species over an extended period.
Montsechia Vidalii is the world’s first flowering plant. (Source: ichef.bbci)
Montsechia vidalii is believed to have lived underwater and resembles seaweed but contains a seed – a characteristic of flowering plants or angiosperms. Using modern microscopes, scientists estimate that this plant dates back approximately 125 to 130 million years, coinciding with the era of the Iguanodon and Brachiosaurus dinosaurs.
This indicates that Montsechia vidalii has a “lifetime” equal to or longer than the Archaefructus plant found in China, which was previously considered the first flowering plant on Earth.
According to researchers, the first fossil samples of Montsechia vidalii were discovered over a century ago in limestone quarries in the Iberian Peninsula, central Spain, and the Montsec range of the Pyrenees.
However, most of these fossil samples were misinterpreted because this plant did not have clearly defined “flower parts” such as petals or nectar-producing areas to attract insects. Nonetheless, this plant is still classified as a flowering plant due to the unique structure of its seeds. This has helped scientists gain a better understanding of the early evolution of flowering plants.
Montsechia Vidalii has provided a new perspective on the greatest mystery in botany.
The scientific community believes that the new interpretation of the fossil samples of Montsechia vidalii has provided a new aspect of the greatest mystery in botany. This research is also considered an important contribution to clarifying the early evolutionary history of flowering plants on Earth.
The discovery of Montsechia vidalii has illuminated the early evolutionary history of flowering plants, one of the most crucial plant groups for life on the planet. Flowering plants play a vital role in ecosystems and are a primary food source for both humans and animals.
This finding also emphasizes the importance of preserving and studying fossil samples. These fragments from the past are the keys to unlocking the understanding of the evolutionary history of Earth and the life on it.
