An international team of paleontologists led by Dr George Poinar of Oregon State University has found a grass spikelet and an ergot-like parasitic fungus preserved in a 100-million-year-old piece of amber from Myanmar. This grass spikelet from the middle Cretaceous is the earliest grass specimen ever discovered, and is covered on its tip by the parasite ergot. Image credit: Oregon State University. Ergot has played roles as a medicine, a toxin, and...
