Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 16:10:27 EDT From: CALIFCARN@aol.com To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1477$foo@default> Subject: Re: CP in Age of Dinosaurs
Howdy, Peter here at California Carnivores......
I found Jan's comments on what is known about ancient CPs quite interesting
as usual. But Jan, are you familiar with the recent discovery here in the
U.S. that is supposedly the most fantastic fossilized collection of plants
ever found? Joe Mazrimas sent me a copy of an article in the New York Times
last winter, and I later saw it local papers, about the remains of a vast
forest fire that dates to 90 million years ago, or roughly 30 million years
before the Dinosaurs went extinct. Several acres of carbonized fossils of
over a billion flowering plants were discovered in New Jersey in perfect
condition. The article mentioned that "pitcher plants" were found, but did
not specify genus. One thing scientists were astounded by was the amazingly
well preserved flowers of the plants, the enormous quantity of them, and how
highly evolved they were. The area was "tropical" 90 million years ago. I
wondered what pitcher plants were found and wanted to contact some of the
scientists mentioned in the article but never got around to it. They claim
the discovery will keep paleobotanists busy for decades. I'll retrieve the
story from my files and quote from it in a day or two, and give you the date
it was printed so you can look it up. I found it really thrilling. Seeya.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:35:08 PST