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| | When Did Angiosperms First Evolve? |
 | | They think that the lack of petals and sepals may be an ancestral characteristic, but the highly specialized leaves, paired stamens, and habit of this plant make that hypothesis unlikely. |
 | | The extent of that evolution (based on recent molecular data) is told by their living descendants, which include Amborella, Nymphaeales, ITA (i.e., ANITA group), Chloranthaceae, Eudicots, Monocots, Piperales, Magnoliales, and Winterales (Doyle and Endress, 2000). |
 | | As recently as a decade ago, the Magnoliales and Winterales had been considered more basal (primitive) than the Nymphaeales, Eudicots, and Monocots; and that interpretation supported an Early Cretaceous origin for angiosperms based on Cretaceous fossils (i.e., Magnoliaceae and Winteraceae in the Barremian-Cenomanian). |
| www.unifiedworlds.com /cornet/Why02/why.htm (12282 words) |
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