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News Release 17-020
Paleontologists find fossil relative of Ginkgo biloba
Discovery highlights diversity of plants more than 100 million years ago
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Reconstruction of the ancient, dinosaur-era relative of today's Ginkgo biloba plant.
Credit: Fabiany Herrera & Patrick Herendeen
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Open pit mine in Tevshiin Govi in central Mongolia where the mummified fossil plants were found.
Credit: Fabiany Herrera & Patrick Herendeen
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The plant's capsule-like, seed-bearing structure opens from the base, releasing the seeds.
Credit: Fabiany Herrera & Patrick Herendeen
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Preserved open four-lobed capsule from which the seeds have been shed.
Credit: Fabiany Herrera & Patrick Herendeen
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Branched short shoot of the extinct plant; this dwarf short shoot is very similar to living ginkgo.
Credit: Fabiany Herrera & Patrick Herendeen
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Leaf of another plant found with the seed-bearing structures of the ancient ginkgo.
Credit: Fabiany Herrera & Patrick Herendeen
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