In 1986, an entomologist from Oregon State University visited an amber mine in the Dominican Republic, and among the pieces he extracted is something that has gone viral in the last few hours: a perfectly preserved flower that could be between 15 and 45 million years old. Experts have classified it as Strychnos electri, a new species.
The story goes that in 1986, entomologist George Poinar of Oregon State University visited an amber mine in the Dominican Republic and managed to extract a significant collection for later study. Thirty years have passed since then, and although Poinar's expertise lies in insects, the piece that has recently brought his name to the web contains a flower. Finding flowers trapped in amber is not new, but they generally tend to be simple fragments. The remarkable thing about Poinar's flower is that it is intact.
His suspicion that it could belong to the genus Strychnos (from which strychnine comes) led him to contact Dr. Lena Struwe of Rutgers University, an expert in that genus. The next step was one of the most complicated: comparing the new flower with 200 years of samples belonging to hundreds of species within the Strychnos genus. Finally, Struwe concluded that it is a new species, and it was named Strychnos electri. Another aspect that demanded careful analysis was determining its age, and despite the effort (which involved the study of other pieces in the collection, taking as reference the presence of foraminifera and coccoliths), the range is between 15 and 45 million years.
According to the official publication, Strychnos electri belongs to the family Loganiaceae, within the order Gentianales, and within the asterids, which makes the new flower something like a distant cousin of coffee, mint, and sunflower. Some outlets presented the flower as poisonous, and while the name Strychnos is a factor to consider, it cannot be known with certainty. Even so, it is a clear example that the next discovery can be in the least expected place. How many new species are waiting to be found...?
