Russians revive Ice Age flower

A Sylene stenophylla plant regenerated by Russian scientists from tissue of fossil fruit (AP)

Published: 8:24pm, 20th February 2012
Updated: 3:20pm, 21st February 2012

Russian scientists say they have resurrected an entire plant , an Ice Age flower, in a pioneering experiment that paves the way for the revival of other species.

They say the Silene stenophylla is the oldest plant ever to be regenerated and is fertile, producing white flowers and viable seeds.

The raw material for the project was fruit tissues from an Ice Age squirrel's chamber, a burrow containing fruit and seeds that had been stuck in the Siberian permafrost for over 30,000 years.