The asterids (>80 000 living species) appear in the fossil record with considerable diversity during the Late Cretaceous (~90 Ma) and are strongly represented by Cornales (order of dogwoods). These early cornaleans have...
Tag - Cretaceous
Alex Assiry
Exquisitely preserved tiny fossils are key for understanding moss evolution
Tiny 135-million-year-old moss fossils found in rocks from western Canada preserve exquisite anatomical details. These fossils open an unexpected window on moss evolution, as they allow for recognition of living moss...
Alexandru M.F. (Mihai) Tomescu
100-million-year-old conifer tissues in Cretaceous amber
Terrestrial plant remains in fossilised tree resin are relatively common. However, histology and preservation of plants entombed in Cretaceous ambers remain poorly known. In this paper, the structure of a conifer’s...
botanyone
You can’t be best at everything…
There is a widespread belief that everything in/of/from/about America is bigger, better, faster, etc, than anything from elsewhere in the world. That is probably the best example of spin over substance ever foisted on...
Nigel Chaffey
Fire
Picking up on my elemental theme, fire has long been considered a major influence on evolution of the angiosperms, whether natural or anthropogenic conflagrations. This incendiary interaction has not been helped by...
When physics meets botany…
This column is always fascinated by the way new insights arise when different disciplines are brought together to tackle an ostensibly botanical problem. So, too, is the UK’s Royal Society, hence its august organ...
