Ancient flowering plant was beautiful, but probably poisonous

Researchers today announced the discovery of the first-ever fossil specimens of an ‘asterid’ — a family of flowering plants that gave us everything from the potatoes to petunias and our morning cup of coffee. But these two 20-30 million-year-old fossil flowers, found perfectly preserved in a piece of amber, came from the dark side of the asterid family — they belong to the genus Strychnos, which ultimately gave rise to some of the world’s most famous poisons, including strychnine and curare.
Paleontology News — ScienceDaily