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Palaeobotany: New ways with old fossils

Nature Plants volume 3, Article number: 17121 (2017) Cite this article

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The evolutionary relationships between extinct species are almost exclusively based on the shape and structure of their fossil specimens. Now, a spectroscopic technique that records a ‘chemical fingerprint’ of fossil plant cuticles is being used to re-interpret the histories of thousands of specimens languishing in museum collections.

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Figure 1: The fossil plant collections at the Field Museum of Natural History.

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  1. School of Biology and Environmental Science, Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Ireland

    Jennifer C. McElwain

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  1. Jennifer C. McElwain
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Correspondence to Jennifer C. McElwain.

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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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McElwain, J. Palaeobotany: New ways with old fossils. Nature Plants 3, 17121 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2017.121

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