The fossil plant was found in northeast China from bedrock of ash, called Archaefructaceae.This fossil plant had leaves and produced seeds together with a fruit, but without any petals! This fruit is an important finding because past fossils of early anthophytes showed evidence of only pollen, leaves, and woodlike tissue. This is the first fossil that clearly exhibits seeds enclosed within a fruit. When scientists examined the fossil they actually found fruits with seeds still in one piece. It is believed these are the oldest seeds ever found in a fossil. Scientists tried to grow these seeds, but failed to do so. .
This plant originally emerged from the water. Archaefructaceae, probably flourished in lakes and ponds about 125 million years ago while dinosaurs walked the Earth. They appear to have grown like water lilies and looked like a cross between ferns and seaweed, having no petals or sepals. .
The feathery leaves are on long stalks, which are shorter towards the top of the plants' stems. The stems seem too thin to have stood upright, signifying that Archaefructus was a water plant, and swellings at the base of the leaves may have given the plants added support in water. The feather pattern of its leaves also indicates that the plant lived in the water, Dilcher says, an observation that is further supported by the fossils of fish found in the same slab. It probably lived in a shallow lake populated by dinosaurs, crocodiles, turtles, and numerous types of fish. .
The flowers probably developed above the water, as their pollen seems best suited to wind or insect scattering: the pollen-producing anthers reached maturity before the females carpals to avoid self fertilization.
Archaefructaceae diverged from the flowering plants before the ancestor of all modern members of the group arose, making it as close to the original flowering plant as any fossil yet found.
That raises the possibility, says Dilcher, that flowering plants actually evolved in aquatic environments, a scenario that runs counter to conventional wisdom, which suggested otherwise.
