http://www.newsweek.com/newsweek-com-pollen-extracted-flower-encased-amber-40-million-years-1773321

When we think of fossils, we tend to imagine the strong, sturdy bones of dinosaurs and the hard, calcified shells of ammonites. Most of us do not picture the delicately preserved petals of an ancient flower.

Fossilized flowers are very rare, but in a study published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, researchers in Berlin and Vienna identified a 40-million-year-old flower, preserved in amber resin, by extracting its pollen.