Grapevine

One of the earliest examples of a winged seed found in a mine in China

A team of geologists, life scientists and biologists affiliated with several institutions in China has found one of the earliest examples of a winged seed in a mine in Anhui Province. Their paper is published in the journal eLife.

Many plants have what are known as winged seeds, which have features shaped to take advantage of wind or the air—such shapes extend dispersal distances of seeds, allowing less competition between them. Common structures in such seeds allow for dropping through the air like a parachute or a helicopter in the wind.

Prior research has shown that the first seeds evolved approximately 372 to 359 million years ago, during the Famennian stage—a development that arose from earlier spore-based reproduction. The first such seeds were covered by a cupule and never evolved wings.

It was sometime later that the first wings began appearing—only two such plant groups are known to have developed wings during the Famennian—specifically, during the Late Devonian.

In this new effort, the research team wanted to learn more about the development of wind dispersal, and ventured to the Jianchuan mine in the Wutong Formation in the Anhui. Fossilized seeds had been found in the mine before.