By Sid
Hereford,
United Kingdom 
Now here's a Quite Interesting question for you.....I was watching QI last night and Fry mentioned a plant that was literally a living fossil, in that genetic tests had shown it was an exact genetic match to fossils of the plant found nearby and so it was both living and a fossil at the same time. I'm not sure how they would be able to get genetic material from a fossil, as my understanding of a fossil is that the living tissues have been replaced with silica chrystals. I'd like to find out more - does anyone know what the plant was called? It looked a little like a Mahonia (it wasn't one of course!) A quick google hasn't found anything either.
27 Jan, 2010
Answers
Can I suggest you pm Fractal.....he is very knowledgable on fossils and such like...
27 Jan, 2010
Oh dear, Sid - it sounds like University Challenge! Alice has the right idea - ask Fractal! :-))
27 Jan, 2010
Ginko tree was the plant in the prgramme in question.
27 Jan, 2010
Yes I have aalways thought of Ginkgo as living fossil. There are fossils of it from way back. It would seem to have been the link between Cycads and Conifers. Another known as a Fossil and only discovered alive in the 1940s was Metasequoia glyptostroboides the Dawn Redwood.
27 Jan, 2010
You could watch a rerun of the TV programme on your computer so you could catch the name?
27 Jan, 2010
Thanks guys for your responses.
Pam - No, it's wasn't Araucaria - Monkey Puz - although it is indeed a very ancient species.
Alice - yes I will, thank you.
Owdboggy - yes, they did mention Ginko, but that's not the one they said that was 'literally' a living fossil in that the SAME PLANT was both living AND fossilised at the same time!
Poaannua - I will look up the Dawn Redwood, thanks.
Drc726 - I'm not sure - it was on Dave on freeview......I suppose I could e-mail the program makers?!
28 Jan, 2010
I don't 'twitter'! (don't really understand it!) but I think that Stephen Fry uses it a lot maybe you could 'twitter?' him!
28 Jan, 2010
That would be Lomatia tasmanica. I saw the QI program too.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/07/2679005.htm
29 Jan, 2010
I agree though Sid (Sarah) about the silica replacing the organic material. How can they check on the organic and genetic material in fossils? Living fossil seem to be buzz words and are used for many organisms that show none or little outward change but this doesn't take into account any physiological or chemical evolution that may have occurred in said organism.
29 Jan, 2010
Fractal/Steve, you are a star. Well done! Pushed for time right now, but when I get the chance I'll look into this plant a bit more. I agree with what you say. I suspect it's another 'theory', which might well be a good theory with a sound basis, but so often the media confuses 'theory' with 'proven fact'. Thanks again!
1 Feb, 2010
good question Sid, I googled living fossil plants and it took me to wikipedia--seemed quite a lot there but I didn't see the programme-- one was the Araucaria aracana and wsn't mares tail around with the dinosaurs or is that an old gardeners tale as you can never get rid of it lol :0)
27 Jan, 2010