Sorry, wrong shrub ... but I think someone had fun with that title!
To millions of moms, the Mother's Day bouquet still gracing the dining room table symbolizes gratitude and love. To Charles Darwin, however, they also would stand as colorful characters in what he called an "abominable mystery" — the origin of flowering plants.
"It's no different now," sighs biologist William Friedman. The mystery remains abominable.
But Dr. Friedman may have helped put plant biologists on a promising scent. He says he's discovered a unique trait in an ancient line of plants that could represent a "missing link" between flowering plants and more-ancient seed plants, such as pines, ginkos, and cycads, some of which can be mistaken for palms.
It takes a microscope to see the difference between the remarkable Amborella and other flowering shrubs. Passersby on its home island of New Caledonia in the South Pacific wouldn't give it a second thought. But to evolutionary biologists, "it's akin to finding a fossil amphibian with an extra leg," notes Henry Gee, a zoologist by training and a senior editor at the journal Nature, which will publish the results in Thursday's issue.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/18/tech/main1630453.shtml