Fossil fruit from 52 million years ago revealed

A fossilised fruit dating back 52 million years has been discovered in South America.

The ancient berry belongs to a family of plants that includes popular foods such as potatoes, tomatoes and peppers.
The plant family's early history is largely unknown as, until now, only a few seeds have been found in the fossil record.
Scientists say the origins of the class go back much further than previously thought, by tens of millions of years.
The plant, a type of Physalis, was found in a fossilised rainforest in Patagonia.
It belongs to the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family of flowering plants, which includes crops, tobacco, medicinal plants and garden flowers such as the petunia.

'Incredibly rare'

Peter Wilf, professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, led the team that discovered the ancient berry.
He told BBC News: "It's the only fossil fruit ever found of this whole group of plants, that now has over 2,000 species.
"A lot of the evolutionary history of life, especially plants, which are rare as fossils, is-Read More