Angiosperm
Cretaceous
Vicinity of Maingkwan, north of Mogaunga, Myanmar (Burma)

8mm angiosperm flower in 20mm Burmite. Beautiful specimen.

Most fossil flowers on the market are Eocene-Miocene age but here is something special: a much older and much better-preserved flower from near the time flowers first appeared on earth.

Fossil flowers are rare because of their fragility but this one was caught in tree resin that fossilized in a way that allowed it to preserve anything it covered – polished later to reveal those inclusions.

This amber piece is a window to the Early Cretaceous when continents were separating, oceans were widening, and dinosaurs were walking the earth. This particular piece exhibits a constellation of plant debris with the flower stretching out like an exploding star – an artist’s nightmare of some unstable corner of the galaxy.