Also read:<\/strong> Green predators: why some plants hunt insects, fish, and even salamanders <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Main points:<\/strong><\/p>\n When did orchids actually appear<\/p>\n Orchids are a vast family comprising thousands of species, but their emergence is dated to the end of the Cretaceous period. According to scientists, this happened approximately 90-70 million years ago.<\/p>\n Although this timeframe is impressive, there are plants with a much older lineage.<\/p>\n Amborella and the mysterious Nankinanthus<\/p>\n The oldest branch of flowering plants that has survived to this day is Amborella. Its evolutionary path began at the turn of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.<\/p>\n “It is currently found only in New Caledonia (islands in the Pacific Ocean, – EDIT). Amborella diverged somewhere at the boundary of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods,” says Kovalenko.<\/p>\n Another contender for the title of the oldest flower is Nankinanthus. Fossils found suggest that it may have existed 175 million years ago. However, discussions continue in the scientific community: not all scientists are ready to officially recognize it as a flowering plant.<\/p>\n Contact with dinosaurs: past and present<\/p>\n Although orchids are not the oldest, their ancestors lived during the age of dinosaurs. Moreover, this connection has not been broken even today.<\/p>\n “The ancestors of orchids encountered dinosaurs. Although modern birds are the only branch that survived the mass extinction. Therefore, orchids are still in contact with dinosaurs today,” notes Alexey Kovalenko.<\/p>\n Also read about why most plants actually have green coloring and how it affects photosynthesis.<\/p>\n Previously, we reported that due to climate change, some crop species, particularly coffee and bananas, are under threat. These trees are being massively attacked by pests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This plant emerged on the cusp of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The popular belief that orchids are the oldest flowering plants on Earth is not accurate. Despite their long history, they appeared significantly later than the true “patriarchs” of the plant world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"magazine_newspaper_sidebar_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-en"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
![](\"\/static\/ckef2\/img\/Amborella_trichopoda_(3065968016)_fragment.jpg\")
Amborella trichopoda (photo: Wikipedia)<\/p>\n