World's Oldest Flower

[MKIRKALDY@aol.com]

AP has an article about the Science (11/26) paper on the finding of the
world's oldest flower (with picture): 

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ap/ap_us/story.html?s=v/ap/19981126/us/ol
dest_flower_2.html

An excerpt:
> By PAUL RECER AP Science Writer 
> WASHINGTON (AP) - 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 that looks nothing like a 
> rose, an apple blossom or a daisy.
[snip]
> The flowering plant fossil was found in a rock formation of limestone 
> and volcanic ash layers in China, near the town of Beipiao, about 250 
> miles northeast of Beijing. The rock beds were once on the bottom of a 
> lake that periodically was showered with volcanic ash, Dilcher said.

Mary
mkirkaldy@aol.com