Scientists from England found chewing gum, which is 110 million years old (Infographic)

Chewing gum, supposedly the oldest, was found by specialists from the University of Portsmouth. This beautiful material, outwardly similar to amber, was found in fossilized leaves 110 years old.

A scientific discovery was made by Emily Roberts, a graduate student at the University of Portsmouth, during a study of the fossilized leaves of the Welwitschiophyllum plant found in Brazil. Thin stripes of amber color were seen in some samples, published in Scientific Reports.

According to scientists, chewing gum is made of petrified vegetable gum. It was previously assumed that they could not survive the process of petrification. Their water-soluble properties did not allow them to survive long enough so that it could be stored in the remains of plants.

Since this fossilized gum looks like amber, now scientists think that in fossil plants there can be many other substances of amber color that are misinterpreted due to the lack of chemical confirmation.

It is believed that the plant Welwitschiophyllum belongs to one of the oldest and most mysterious species of the existing. His relative, Welwitschia, is the only survivor of this line and is currently found only in the Namib Desert in Namibia and South Angola.

Another finding was previously reported. Chinese researchers have discovered new fossil green algae in a breed about a billion years old; the find was called Proterocladus antiquus (it belongs to siphon and clad algae).