Researchers in China have discovered the oldest flower bud in a 164-million-year-old plant fossil. This discovery significantly changes existing information regarding the emergence of flowering plants during the Jurassic period, between 145 and 201 million years ago.

The fossil was discovered in a region of China known as Inner Mongolia. The fossil is 4.2 cm long and 2 cm wide, and contains a stem, a leafy branch, a small, round fruit, and a flower bud (measuring about 3 square millimetres). Researchers have named the discovery Florigerminis jurassica.