An international research team led by Chinese scientists has discovered 100-million-year-old fossil flowers preserved in amber, providing evidence for the study of the evolution of flowering plants in Southeast Asia and tectonic plate movement.

The discovery showed that some flowers found living today in South Africa have remained unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs, the researchers said. 

The research team from the Qingdao University of Science and Technology (QUST), working with experts from The Open University in the UK and other institutions, found the flower fossils were nearly identical to the modern Phylica species, which is part of the Cape Fynbos flora living today near Cape Town, South Africa.

The QUST team studied 21 pieces of amber found in Myanmar, which were formed about 100 million years ago, and discovered that the flowers showed high adaptability to frequent wildfires.

The study has been published in Nature Plants, a scientific journal that publishes primary research papers concerning all aspects of plant biology, technology, ecology and evolution.