NARRATOR: Several international organizations have called for an increased effort to protect this region before its diversity is lost forever to the modern day glacier of environmental destruction.
Dilcher and Sun Ge know that there are other fossils out there, that will illuminate the mystery of the first flower. They are both determined to find them. The full mystery of how flowering plants began has not been solved, but as one leading botanist says, "it is a mystery, but no longer an abominable one."
On NOVA's First Flower Web site, see a slideshow of spectacular garden plants and watch video extras of 21st century plant hunter Dan Hinkley, as he explores the wilds of western China. Find it on PBS.org.
To order this show or other NOVA programs, for 19.95 plus shipping and handling, call WGBH Boston Video at 1-800-255-9424.
NOVA is a production of WGBH Boston.
Major funding for NOVA is provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, serving society through biomedical research and science education: HHMI.
And by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you. Thank you.