Discovered: Largest-ever flower preserved in amber

As close as we will ever get to "A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

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First described over 150 years ago as Stewartia kowalewskii, a corolla preserved in amber from at least 34 million years ago was reanalyzed and reclassified by researchers.

Measuring 28 mm in diameter, it is the largest-known fossilised flower to be preserved in amber, nearly three times the size of other preserved flowers.

The analysis of pollen extracted from the anthers of the flower inclusion revealed strong affinities to Asian species of Symplocos.

Renamed Symplocos kowalewskii, the fossilized flower represents the first record of Symplocaceae from Baltic amber.

Research paper: "The largest amber-preserved flower revisited"; Eva-Maria Sadowski and Christa-Charlotte Hofmann, Scientific Reports, 10.1038/s41598-022-24549-z

Images: Carola Radke, MfN (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin)

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Read the original scientific paper in its entirety here.