Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Floral evidence for Cretaceous chloranthoid angiosperms

Abstract

The hypothesis that multiparted magnolialean flowers retain the largest number of primitive floral characters among living angiosperms has received support from almost 80 years of comparative studies with extant plants1–3. Accumulating fossil data suggest, however, that large Magnolia-like flowers were probably preceded in the fossil record by smaller and simpler floral types, some of them perhaps related to the Chloranthaceae, a family generally regarded as being advanced within the Magnoliidae2–4. The presence of chloranthoid plants early in the history of the angiosperms has been suggested by studies of dispersed pollen4–7 and fossil leaves8, but the information on floral structure crucial to assessing the biology of these plants and their relationships within the Chloranthaceae, has so far been unavailable. We now provide new evidence of Cretaceous chloranthoid angiosperms based on fossil androecia, with pollen in situ, from the Lower Cretaceous of eastern North America and the Upper Cretaceous of southern Sweden. The Cretaceous material clarifies the homologies of chloranthoid androecial structures and provides an improved basis for interpreting the pollination biology in this enigmatic group of early angiosperms.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Arber, E. A. N. & Parkin, J. J. Linn. Soc. 38, 29–80 (1907).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Takhtajan, A. FlowerinHg Plants Origin and Dispersal, 1–310 (Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 1969).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Cronquist, A. An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants, 1–1262 (Columbia University Press, 1981).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Walker, J. W. & Walker, A. G. Ann. M. hot. Gdn 71, 464–521 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Couper, R. A. Palaeontographica B 103, 77–179 (1958).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Doyle, J. A. Arnold Arbor. 50, 1–35 (1969).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Muller, J. Bot. Rev. 47, 1–142 (1981).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Upchurch, G. R. Ann. M. hot. Gdn 71, 522–550 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kemp, E. M. Palaeontology 11, 421–434 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Hughes, N. R., Drewry, G. E. & Laing, J. F. Palaeontology 22, 513–535 (1979).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Doyle, J. A. & Hickey, L. J. in Origin and Early Evolution of Angiosperms (ed. Beck, C. B.) 139–206 (Columbia University Press, 1976).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Hickey, L. J. in Cretaceous and Tertiary Stratigraphy, Paleontology and Structure, Southwestern Maryland and Northeastern Virginia (eds Frederiksen, N. O. & Krafft, K.) 193–209 (U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, 1984).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Friis, E. M. Ann. M. hot. Gdn 71, 403–418 (1984).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Friis, E. M. Biol. Skr. 25, 1–37 (1985).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Swamy, B. G. L. J. Arnold Arbor. 34, 375–408 (1953).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Erdtman, G. Pollen Morphology and Plant Taxonomy, 1–539 (Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm, 1952).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Endress, P. K. Pl. Syst. Evol. (in the press).

  18. van der Hammen, T. & Gonzales, E. Leid. geol. Meded. 25, 261–315 (1960).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Dilcher, D. L. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 27, 291–328 (1979).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Friis, E., Crane, P. & Pedersen, K. Floral evidence for Cretaceous chloranthoid angiosperms. Nature 320, 163–164 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/320163a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/320163a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing