'Alien plant' fossil discovered by scientist isn't related to any species past or present
Technology
The plants lived around 47 million years ago
(Web Desk) - A fossil discovered by scientists has been dubbed an "alien plant" because it’s unlike any species from the past or present.
The first incredible discovery regarding this unusual plant species was found in modern-day Utah back in 1969. It was named Othniophyton elongatum, which translates to “alien plant”. It was believed at the time that the plant could be related to ginseng.
However, more recent analysis has changed this theory. We now know the plant was actually rather unique.
This saga was given a surprising update recently. Steven Manchester, curator of paleobotany at the Florida Museum of Natural History, found an unidentified, but well preserved, plant fossil while visiting the University of California.
It had come from the same area as the alien plant leaves, and Manchester’s research team analysed the fossils and concluded they were from the same plant species.
The sample found at UC Berkeley had leaves, flowers and fruits attached, but the specimen retrieved in 1969 did not, as it only had leaves. These features looked different from those of plants related to ginseng.
Researchers could not match the fossils to any other families of flowering plants, of which there are over 400 families living today. Nor could they link the fossils to extinct families.
The research team in 1969 assumed the sample was linked to plants in the ginseng family because they theorised the leaf structure was similar.
However this theorised link to the ginseng family could finally be discarded once the second sample was found, as the research team this time around had a lot more features of the plant to compare to others. The family could not be found.
The plants lived around 47 million years ago and the fossil specimens were excavated from the Green River Formation in eastern Utah.
