Did flowering plants appear earlier than the fossil record indicates? Two papers independently conclude they did - and suggest what fossil evidence we should look for.
About half of all higher plant species are recognizable as evolutionarily recent polyploids, where multiple whole genomes or sets of chromosomes have come together from close ancestors. Additionally, over evolutionary...
Why did Gingko almost disappear during the Triassic–Jurassic mass extinction when ferns did so well? The answer has relevance for future atmospheric changes.
Stomata are pores regulating gas exchange in land plants. Stomatal morphology has remained largely consistent through ∼400 million years of plant evolution, though cell wall composition has changed. Shtein et al...
It's difficult to peer into the past to see the first flowering plant, but Charlie Scutt shows how an ancestor in the modern-era provides some clues as to what it looked like.
Amborella trichopoda, the sister species of all other extant angiosperms, is typically dioecious, producing male and female flowers on separate individuals. Anger et al. map sex phenotypes onto a phylogeny of basally...
Macroevolution of major clades is often studied by plotting their taxonomic diversity through time. It is equally informative, but less commonplace, to investigate how clades explore anatomical ‘design’ space by...
I remember reading that grass had a huge impact on ecosystems, but maybe missed its best chance to become famous. It’s possible grass would have been known as the killer of the dinosaurs, if a meteorite...
Plant species that survived the K–Pg extinction event had fast-growth ecological strategies corresponding to high assimilation rates & low carbon investment
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Rare and monotypic Amborella is probably the living – extant – flowering plant closest evolutionarily to the first true member of the angiosperm group.
A revelation concerning amber-encased plant material suggests current sexual reproduction in angiosperms may have changed little in over 100 million years.
Plants in over 100 families bear extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), which secrete a carbohydrate-rich food that attracts ants and other arthropods. By fostering ecologically important protective mutualisms, EFNs play a...