Fossil flowers of ancient climbing plants, or lianas, preserved in amber are giving scientists a rare look into the ancient tropical rainforests of Southeast China. These flowers, trapped in tree resin around 15 million years ago, offer a unique window into the plant life of the Middle Miocene, a period known for its warm global climate. Researchers have studied two exceptionally well-preserved flowers from the Zhangpu flora, a fossil site in Fujian Province. Their findings, published in the journal Annals of Botany, suggest that lianas—plants that climb other vegetation—were already an important part of tropical forest ecosystems during this time. The fossils belong to the genus Ayenia (section Vahihara) in the mallow family (Malvaceae), a group of flowering plants that includes many species found today. One of the flowers has been identified as a new fossil species, Ayenia zhangpuensis, while the other is tentatively classified as Ayenia sp. Using advanced techniques like light microscopy and X-ray tomography, scientists were able to study the fine details of the flowers' structure. These methods allowed them to observe features that are rarely preserved in fossil plants, such as the delicate reproductive parts of the flowers. The Zhangpu flora is one of the most significant fossil sites for understanding the tropical ecosystems of the Middle Miocene. During this warm period, the region supported a rich and diverse rainforest, with amber preserving many plants and animals in remarkable detail. However, climbing plants like lianas are often hard to identify in the fossil record because their fragile structures rarely survive the conditions needed for preservation. This makes their role in ancient forests difficult to study, and their importance is often overlooked. The discovery of these Ayenia flowers adds valuable information about the Zhangpu flora and the ancient rainforest ecosystem. The close similarity between the fossil flowers and those of modern Ayenia species suggests that the basic structure of these plants has remained stable for at least 15 million years. This finding highlights how amber can help scientists piece together the evolutionary history of plants and the composition of ancient ecosystems over vast stretches of time.