In the Berlin Museum of Natural History, the oldest lily in the world was discovered, whose age exceeds 110 million years. A freshwater lake was previously located at the sampling site.

Plant limestones have already been found in the limestone brought from Kratu municipality. Fragments of an ancient laurel, pepper, magnolia were found here. According to biologists, the flora of the dried lake was very diverse. But for the first time such an ancient, perfectly preserved specimen of the Cretaceous period was found.

By scanning, scientists determined the integrity of the stem, the excellent condition of the branched root system, examined several whole leaves and a bud. A flower about half a meter high is called Cratolirion bognerianum. Perhaps this is the oldest monocotyledon ever found.

The class of monocotyledons is determined not only by one germinal leaf. Representatives of the class have a fibrous root system that does not have a main root. Leaves without stipules, the stem does not branch, the structure of the flower is of a triple type. Only a combination of several characteristics allows us to determine the plant as a monocotyledonous one; they are clearly established in the lily found.

Find Value

In the Cretaceous period, the most important changes in the flora occurred. It was then that the ancestors of the bees appeared, thanks to which angiosperms evolved. Along with their development, the number of insects increased, which gave impetus to the evolutionary changes of many animal species.

Nerd K. Coffard notes the value of the find, confirming the theory of the origin of flowering plants in tropical regions. Perhaps the ancient lily will shed light on the development of angiosperms. It existed long before the extinction of the dinosaurs, when flowering plants had just begun to evolve.

It is not known when and how the division into monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous classes occurred. Some scientists believe that from the primitive dicotyledons came lily and other families of monocotyledonous plants. Their opponents believe that dicotyledons evolved from marshy monocotyledonous plants, which means that herbaceous plants could be the ancestors of flowering plants.

Finds like Cratolirion bognerianum help scientists restore evolutionary sequence. Details about the study of the lily found and its effect on the current classification are described in the journal Nature Plants.