Bartonian Stage
Oldest known carnivorous plant
The Bartonian (41.2–37.71 Ma) is the third stage of the Eocene Epoch, occurring after the Lutetian, and before Priabonian
Geologic Age
41.2–37.71 million years ago
Eon / Era / Period / Epoch
Above: Fossil leaf of a flypaper trap plant in Baltic amber
What happened during this time?
Oldest carnivorous plant macrofossils found in amber (Sadowski et al. 2015)
The fossil record of carnivorous plants is very scarce and macrofossil evidence has been restricted to seeds of the extant aquatic genus Aldrovanda of the Droseraceae family. No case of carnivorous plant traps has so far been reported from the fossil record.
Leaves enclosed in a piece of Eocene Baltic amber that share relevant morphological features with extant Roridulaceae, a carnivorous plant family that is today endemic to the Cape flora of South Africa.
As in extant Roridula, the fossil leaves possess two types of plant trichomes, including unicellular hairs and five size classes of multicellular stalked glands (or tentacles) with an apical pore.
The apices of the narrow and perfectly tapered fossil leaves end in a single tentacle, as in both modern Roridula species.
The glandular hairs of the fossils are restricted to the leaf margins and to the abaxial lamina, as in extant Roridula gorgonias.
The name of the stage is derived from the Barton Beds found between Highcliffe and Milford-on-Sea in Hampshire, England
Above: Seeds sprouting from an amber-encased Pinus cembrifolia cone
