Fossils of 120m-year-old angiosperm discovered in China

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, November 17, 2003

Fossils of 120m-year-old angiosperm discovered in China

Chinese scientists have found the fossils of a kind of higher angiosperm dating back 120 million years in Lingyuan City of northeast China's Liaoning Province, and named them "Sinocarpus decussatus Leng et Friis."

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Chinese scientists have found the fossils of a kind of higher angiosperm dating back to 120 million years in Lingyuan City of northeast China's Liaoning Province, and named them "Sinocarpus decussatus Leng et Friis."

Scientists with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said the fossils belonged to a kind of higher angiosperm plant -- eudicots -- which flourished on the earth 122 million to 125 million years ago.

The fossilized fruits and flowers lie in the shape of a cross and are called the fossils Sinocarpus decussatus leng et Friis.

Zhang Wanlian, a reporter with Chaoying Daily, who covers fossil stories, got the fossils from a collector in Dawangzhangzi Township of Lingyuan City. Scientists with the CAS later collected the fossils from Zhang.

Experts say the discovery reflects China's new achievements in the research on angiosperm plants, and shows eudicots grew in the western part of Liaoning in the early Cretaceous period, when such plants flourished in Europe, Africa and North America.

Previously, Chinese scientists had discovered fossils from two other species of angiosperm plants in western Liaoning.

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