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A 295-million-year-old fossil found in the Antaibao mine in Shuozhou, Shanxi Province, China, displays structures with possible encased seeds; if researchers’ interpretations hold, the find could push back the origin of flowering plants by about 150 million years.
A fossil discovered in the Antaibao mine, in Shuozhou, Shanxi Province, China, reignited a long-standing debate in paleobotany in 2026: when did the first flowering plants appear? Named Permocarpelloides shuozhouensis, the specimen belongs to a geological formation approximately 295 million years old.
According to a report from Xataka, written by Eva R. de Luis and published on September 13, 2026, researchers from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, identified structures in the fossil that may contain enclosed ovules or seeds. If this interpretation is confirmed, the history of angiosperms could be pushed back by about 150 million years.
Fossil Emerged from a Mine in Shanxi Province
The specimen was retrieved from the Antaibao mine in Shuozhou, northern China. The team described the material as belonging to a new genus and new species, naming it Permocarpelloides shuozhouensis.
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Its age was not determined solely by the fossil’s appearance. The geological formation where it was found was dated using a high-precision uranium-lead method, placing the material between about 295 and 298.9 million years ago, during the early Permian period.
Possible Seeds Appear Inside Protected Structures
The fossil features three small structures arranged parallel to each other. Each measures approximately 4.2 to 4.8 millimeters and contains tiny grains preserved inside.
For the researchers, these grains may represent ovules or seeds at different stages of development. The crucial detail is that they appear encased by an external structure rather than remaining exposed.
Seed Protection is One Clue to Flowering Plants
This characteristic is particularly interesting to researchers because flowering plants, or angiosperms, have ovules enclosed within reproductive structures. This is a fundamental difference compared to gymnosperms, a group in which seeds remain exposed.
Thus, it is not merely the presence of something resembling a seed that draws attention. The central point lies in the way this material seems protected within the fossilized structure, a characteristic that connects the specimen to the organization found in angiosperms.
Three structures resemble organization found in modern flowers
The arrangement of the three potential carpels also caught the team’s attention. They are organized in a manner that, according to the presented interpretation, resembles structural patterns found in current groups of flowering plants.
Xataka highlights the comparison with representatives of Magnoliales, an order that includes plants with floral characteristics deemed significant for evolutionary studies. However, the similarity does not imply that the fossil plant was a modern magnolia.
Discovery would date flowers long before dinosaurs
Most traditional reconstructions place the initial expansion of angiosperms in the Cretaceous period, approximately 130 to 145 million years ago, although there are hypotheses that suggest earlier origins.
An organism with characteristics of flowering plants about 295 million years ago would radically alter this timeline. The difference would be approximately 150 million years, positioning this reproductive system in the Permian, long before the scenario typically associated with the rise of flowers.
Fossil does not independently prove that angiosperms already existed
Despite the discovery’s potential, the interpretation requires caution. Such ancient plant fossils often arrive incomplete, compressed, or lacking sufficient structures for definitive classification.
Therefore, researchers do not close the debate on the origin of flowering plants based solely on this specimen. The hypothesis relies on confirming that the observed structures truly correspond to the reproductive components interpreted by the team.
Scientists admit the plant may belong to another group
There is an alternative explanation. The group itself acknowledges that Permocarpelloides shuozhouensis might ultimately be classified as an extinct gymnosperm with unusual morphology, rather than necessarily as a primitive angiosperm.
This possibility is crucial because it prevents the finding from becoming definitive proof of flowers in the Permian. The fossil presents intriguing characteristics, but its exact position on the evolutionary tree of plants remains open to discussion.
Even another classification would maintain the significance of the finding
If the organism is not recognized as a true angiosperm, the discovery would not lose all its significance. The presence of structures seemingly capable of enclosing ovules or seeds would still be relevant for understanding the evolution of plant reproduction.
In this scenario, the fossil would show that the mechanism of enclosing and protecting reproductive structures was already being experimented with by plants long before the Cretaceous, even if it arose independently from the lineage of modern angiosperms.
Team has already presented other fossils that challenge traditional chronology
This is not the first ancient material presented by the same group as possible evidence of a more remote origin of flowering plants. Other fossils, such as Taiyuanostachya, Yuzhoua, and Dengfengfructus, have already been proposed as candidates of a similar age.
The noted difference for Permocarpelloides is the organization of the three reproductive structures. For the researchers, this arrangement makes the new specimen an especially interesting candidate, although it does not eliminate taxonomic doubts.
The Origin of Flowering Plants Remains a Puzzle
Today, angiosperms dominate much of the terrestrial ecosystems and include a vast diversity of trees, herbs, agricultural crops, and other species. Nonetheless, establishing exactly when this lineage emerged remains a challenging question.
The fossil record does not preserve all evolutionary stages, and finding complete reproductive structures in extremely old materials is rare. Therefore, each new specimen capable of preserving seeds, ovules, or carpels can alter the interpretation of the plant past.
295 Million-Year-Old Fossil Could Change a Timeline of Millions of Years
The Permocarpelloides shuozhouensis does not definitively assert that flowering plants covered the Earth during the Permian. What it does is present a combination of age and reproductive structures that can re-place an even older hypothesis back at the center of the debate.
If future analyses confirm the interpretation of the Chinese team, the origin of this type of reproduction could be pushed back approximately 150 million years, reaching a time before the dinosaurs.
