(CNN) -
The first fossil evidence of a pineapple sprouting seeds has been preserved in amber for 40 million years.
Seed germination generally occurs in the ground after a seed has fallen, but several embryonic stems emerging from the ancient pineapple were captured in a rare botanical feat known as early germination or viviparity, in which the seeds sprout before leave the fruit.
"That's part of what makes this discovery so intriguing, even beyond the fact that it is the first fossil record of plant viviparity to involve seed germination," said George Poinar Jr., paleobiologist at the College of Sciences. from the State of Oregon and author of a study on the discovery, in a press release.
"I find it fascinating that the seeds of this little pineapple can begin to germinate inside the cone and that the sprouts can grow so long before they die in the resin."
Early germination in pineapples is so rare that only one natural example of this condition, from 1965, has been described in the scientific literature, Poinar said in the statement.
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When seed germination occurs inside plants, it tends to be in things like fruits (think of the baby pepper you sometimes see when you open a bell pepper), but it is rare in gymnosperms like conifers that produce "naked" or seeds. not closed.
The fossilized pineapple comes from an extinct species of pine called Pinus cembrifolia.
Preserved in Baltic amber, clusters of needles are visible, some in packs of five.
Some of the most extraordinary discoveries in paleontology in recent years come from amber: a dinosaur tail, parts of primitive birds, insects, lizards, and flowers have been found entombed in tree resin globes dating back millions of years.
The vivid creatures and plants look as if they just died yesterday and are often exquisitely preserved with details that would otherwise be lost in the mass of fossils formed in the rock.
Based on their position, some, if not most, of the stem growth occurred after the pineapple came into contact with the sticky resin of the tree, Poinar said.
The research was published in the journal Historical Biology last week.
Poinar has worked on amber fossils for decades, first discovering in a 1982 study that amber could preserve intracellular structures in an organism trapped inside.
His work inspired science fiction in the "Jurassic Park" movie and book franchise, where DNA is extracted from dinosaur blood inside a mosquito trapped in amber to recreate prehistoric creatures.
