How old is the oldest orchid

Dr Taylor said that while the reference by itself could be questioned, photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries showed the orchid growing larger in the same place specified in the guide. It must also be very old, just by its sheer size," he added.

Dr Taylor said another large tiger orchid growing on one of the Gardens' heritage trees is believed to be its daughter. Tiger orchids, which are native to Singapore, were believed to have become extinct here due to habitat loss. In , the Botanic Gardens reintroduced the plant to the island using specimens from Malaysia. Dr Taylor said the Gardens' molecular laboratory will run tests to determine whether the two on its grounds are genetically different from the others in Singapore.

He added: "Given that Singapore and the Botanic Gardens are synonymous with orchids, the fact that we have the oldest living specimen is very special. The latest orchid fossil shows that it has pollen, including a structure like a small bag called pollinia, attached to the viscidia layer, the sticky sheets can attach flower parts together and attract a lot of bees. And the system for pollinating insects called pollinarium.

It is estimated that this is a fossil orchid fossil, possibly of extinct orchids trapped in amber about 45 million years ago. In it, the pollinaria part was found to be associated with particular flower legs. Currently, Amber is storing these fossils very well to continue researching how it freezes, or breaks before being buried in amber.

And maybe at that time, un-mapped continents drifted into arrays like now. This million-year old-gnat trapped in amber has orchid pollen attached to her leg, marking the oldest fossil evidence of orchids by at least 15 million years. George Poinar Jr. When it comes to biological diversity, few families can match orchids.

Their 28, known species with likely many more still to find outnumber mammals four to one. This staggering variety makes more sense now that a flower trapped in amber proves they date back at least 45 million years, rather than the million of the previous record-holder.

As with other flowers, orchids don't fossilize well, so we have just eight ancient specimens with which to trace their evolution. However, in between discovering weird and wonderful extinct insects trapped in amber, Professor emeritus George Poinar, Jr. Orchids keep their pollen in aggregations known as pollinaria, which hitch a ride on pollinating insects to other flowers.

Some million years ago, when northern Europe was subtropical, a female fungus gnat got a pollinaria stuck to the base of her hind leg, before becoming far more seriously stuck in amber.