India, Nov. 28 -- Among the silt-rich deposits of the Chirang River in Manipur's Imphal Valley, researchers examining fossil plant remains have found an astonishingly intact bamboo stem, carrying the ghostly marks of long-vanished thorns.

This earliest thorny bamboo fossil from Asia could rewrite a chapter of the continent's botanical history.

Scientists from Birbal Sahni institution of Palaeosciences (BSIP), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) during field surveys in the silt-rich deposits of the Chirang River in Manipur's Imphal Valley, chanced upon a bamboo stem with unusual markings.

Their detailed analysis identified these as thorn scars, prompting further investigation into its identity and s...