Flowers in Amber

George Poinar has studied amber for many years and he and his wife Roberta founded “The Amber Institute” that provided information and identifications of amber inclusions.  The Institute was closed after the Poinars left UC Berkeley and went to Oregon State University.  A paper written by the Poinars showed Michel Crichton a way to bring back dinosaurs in his book “Jurassic Park”.  After studying animals in amber, Poinar and his colleagues began investigating flowers. The descriptions of all amber flowers, including those of the trees that produced Dominican and Mexican amber, are summarized in the present work.

• Introduction.- The miracle of amber.- Floral characteristics.- Chapter1. Burmese amber flowers.- Chapter2. Baltic amber flowers.- Chapter3. Dominican amber flowers.- Chapter4. Mexican amber flowers.- General conclusions.- References.

“Flowers in Amber, is the first volume solely focused on amber flowers and is an extraordinary contribution to science. … The 156 references cited throughout the volume will be appreciated by all readers interested in learning more details about the topics discussed by Poinar. The book is profusely illustrated with 250 photographs and is being offered at a very reasonable price, making it quite accessible to anyone interested in amber fossils.” (Fernando E. Vega, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 98 (2), June, 2023)