Giant seeds found. They are bigger than some fruits
An international team of scientists has discovered unique seeds. They are gigantic in size, comparable to the familiar lime! This plant is related to horse chestnuts, but not in the way you might initially expect.
An exceptional discovery was made in Borneo. It was made by an international team, consisting of researchers from the USA, Canada, Great Britain and Indonesia. They described the results of their research in the “International Journal of Plant Sciences”. As it results from the published content, the fossil discovered in Borneo is related to the Australian horse chestnut. However, it is a slightly different plant from the one we associate with the golden Polish autumn and characteristic brown balls – fruits.
From Asia to Australia
According to the team, the find can be classified as one of the largest known fossils of prehistoric seeds. It is said to be from 34-40 million years ago and belongs to an extinct legume. As indicated by the naukawpolsce.pl portal, its relationship to the Australian horse chestnut suggests that its ancestors migrated to Australia from Asia when Australia, after breaking away from Antarctica, approached the Asian continent.
Interestingly, the size of the seed is not the only unique feature of this find. The discovery, for the first time in plant macrofossils, documents the migration of plants from Asia to Australia during the tectonic collision of these two continents. The ancient ancestors of the Australian horse chestnut could have migrated further south in this way.
