For the growing number of investigators who study ancient DNA, the most stimulating paper published during 1990 reported the determination of a chloroplast DNA sequence from a plant compression fossil found in a Miocene deposit at Clarkia, Idaho (Golenberg et al. 1990). During August 1990, S.P. took part in an excavation at the Clarkia site organized by Dr C. J. Smiley of the Tertiary Research Center, University of Idaho. Analysis of extracts prepared from the plant remains shows that the high molecular mass (HMM) DNA that can be detected in some extracts from Clarkia fossils is mostly, if not exclusively, of bacterial origin. Further work aimed at the retrieval of plant sequences from these remains should therefore not be confined to extracts where HMM DNA is seen.