Oldest evidence of sex in flowering plants

BBC ^ | 01/10/14 | Siva Parameswaran

[Natufian]

The oldest evidence of sexual reproduction in a flowering plant - dating back 100 million years - has been found in Burma.

The team discovered a cluster of 18 tiny flowers in a piece of amber; one of them was in the process of making new seeds for the next generation.

Flowering plants caused an enormous change in biodiversity on Earth.

[Mercat]

Band them?

[MrB]

Castrate with rubber bands specifically made for the task.

[Mercat]

Ouch. And they’re okay with that? Why not just castrate them?

[MrB]

Doesn’t bother them much after the initial shock,
and it’s less messy & prone to infection than a knife.

They just shrivel up and drop off.

[Mercat]

Okay. Makes sense.

[Boogieman]

We had one of those “lilac trees” in the backyard of my old house. It must have been about 9 feet tall and 12 feet diameter. I’m not sure how old it was, but the house was a Victorian built in 1889 and I think a lot of the landscaping was very old, because even the grass was different than the grass in the rest of the neighborhood, and the elm out front was one of the biggest in the area. That bush grew so big that I had to chop about 2-3 feet off one side every year, or it would have overgrown the path to the gate.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic was posted 1/10/2014. Adding to the list, not sending a general distribution. Thanks Natufian.

[Steve Van Doorn]

Flowering plants really started to become wide spread around Cretaceous period over a 100 million years ago. which is also the time when CO2 was dropping from 3000 PPM to what it is today.

It is important the cause and effect. Flowering plants create extra carbon. They need the extra carbon for the lower CO2 levels in the Atmosphere that we have today.