Magnoliidae

▪ plant subclass

Introduction

      subclass of woody or herbaceous flowering plants belonging to the class Magnoliopsida.

      Members of the Magnoliidae are dicotyledonous plants that retain some primitive anatomic and morphological characteristics and are not closely related to more advanced groups of flowering plants. Although the subclass contains the most primitive families of flowering plants, no plant in this group is considered to be the most primitive angiosperm because none is most primitive in all its features. The fossil record suggests that the primitive woody Magnoliidae shared characteristics from which all other flowering plants evolved. Magnoliidae also contain the most primitive herbaceous angiosperms—the water lilies ( Nymphaeales) and buttercups and their relatives ( Ranunculales).

      There are 8 orders, 39 families, and approximately 12,000 species within the subclass Magnoliidae. The orders, arranged more or less from the most primitive to the most advanced, are Magnoliales, Laurales, Piperales, Aristolochiales, Illiciales, Nymphaeales, Ranunculales, and Papaverales. Such a linear sequence of orders does not imply, however, that one order has necessarily evolved from certain members of the preceding one. For example, although it is commonly considered that the Papaverales have been derived from the Ranunculales, it is also thought that the Laurales, Piperales, and Nymphaeales evolved independently from different members of the Magnoliales. The largest orders, the Magnoliales, Laurales, and Ranunculales, together contain more than two-thirds of the species in the subclass.

General features

Diversity of structure

      The Magnoliidae illustrate much of the diversity that characterizes the dicotyledonous plants as a whole. Evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs are found in the Magnoliidae, as are perennial herbs and a few annual herbs. Trees, shrubs, and vines are characteristic of Magnoliales, Laurales, Illiciales, and Ranunculales; the latter also contains herbs. Aristolochiales contains only woody vines; Nymphaeales, only aquatic herbs; and Papaverales, only herbs and soft-wooded shrubs. Piperales contains trees, shrubs, and herbs.

      Most Magnoliidae have features of a relatively archaic nature: in the flowers, the usually unfused carpels are surrounded by either many petals or none at all; the numerous, sometimes leaf-shaped, stamens release two-celled pollen that often contain only a single aperture; the ovules are surrounded by two integuments; and the mature seeds usually contain a small embryo and usually copious endosperm. Biochemically, Magnoliidae are characterized by the presence of benzylisoquinoline or aporphine alkaloids, which are secondary metabolites with a defensive function and are rare in other groups. Only rarely do the Magnoliidae produce tanniferous substances, and betalains, iridoid compounds, or mustard oils are not evident. These different classes of defensive agents do, however, occur in some other groups.

Distribution

      The subclass Magnoliidae has members throughout the world, especially in tropical, subtropical, and temperate areas. This is true of Annonaceae, Myristicaeae, and Magnoliaceae, three of the largest families in the order Magnoliales. A few species are found in Australia, New Guinea, and Fiji. Winteraceae (Magnoliales) is principally found in the southwestern Pacific, including New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Australia. A few species occur in Central and South America. Piperales and Aristolochiales occur almost exclusively in the tropical and temperate areas of the world, as does Laurales, which can be found in Australia and the subtropics as well. Some families of Nymphaeales are cosmopolitan, but many are generally found only in Asia. Ranunculales inhabits north temperate, tropical, and temperate areas, including South America and Southeast Asia. Papaverales thrives in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, South Africa, and Australia. Illiciales is predominant in Southeast Asia, the southeastern United States, and the Caribbean.

Natural history

Reproduction and life cycles

      The reproduction and life cycles of the more primitive extant members of the Magnoliidae reflect stages in the life histories of the early angiosperms that cannot be found in the fossil record. The more primitive families of the subclass also exhibit some of the basic, primitive features of the angiosperms as a whole.

      There are usually two pairs of microspore- (pollen- (pollen)) producing sacs in an immature, developing stamen, each divided by a partition to make four compartments. The stamens of the most primitive Magnoliidae have four pollen sacs, although some genera of a few families have only two pollen sacs as a derived condition. The tapetum, the nutritive layer of cells that lines the inner wall of the pollen sac, is of the secretory, or glandular, type in the Magnoliales and other primitive members of the Magnoliidae (see angiosperm: Reproductive structures (angiosperm)). The tapetal cells remain intact but become absorbed as they supply nutrients to the developing pollen grains. An amoeboid tapetum, on the other hand, breaks down early, and the contents of the cell (protoplasm) extrude between the young pollen grains, providing a more efficient way of nourishing them. This type of tapetum has been found in the Lauraceae (Laurales), where both types of tapetum occur, and in Ceratophyllaceae (Nymphaeales).

      In the more primitive angiosperms, and in all Magnoliidae, pollen grains are released in the two-celled condition (one tube cell, which expands to form the pollen tube at germination, and one generative cell, which divides to form two sperm cells); in advanced subclasses of flowering plants, they are released in a three-celled condition (one tube cell and two sperm cells), because sperm cells are formed before the pollen is released. An exception of sorts occurs in Laurelia (Monimiaceae) and Beilschmiedia (Lauraceae) of the Magnoliidae order Laurales; in some of these, pollen grains are two-celled; in others, they are three-celled; and in still others, the sperm cells are in the process of forming as the pollen is liberated.

      In the most primitive Magnoliidae, three of the four megaspores formed from the megakaryocyte (megaspore mother cell) degenerate. A female gametophyte of eight nuclei, including the ovum (egg), develops from the surviving megaspore (see angiosperm: Reproduction (angiosperm)). About 70 percent of angiosperms have this type of female gametophyte development. With few exceptions in the subclass, two integuments form the seed coat of the ovule. In some plants of more advanced subclasses, a single integument is found (e.g., Asteridae). The few exceptions in the subclass occur in some more advanced herbaceous genera of Nymphaeales, Ranunculales, and parasitic genera of Aristolochiales. The single-integument condition has evolved separately several times in flowering plants, and therefore families in which it occurs are not necessarily closely related.

      In Magnoliidae, the ovules (ovule) are inverted, so that the opening in the ovule through which the pollen tube enters (the micropyle) remains alongside the stalk (funiculus, or funicle) that attaches the ovule to the ovary. This contrasts with the gymnosperms and some advanced groups of angiosperms, where the ovule does not bend back upon itself, but rather remains erect, with the micropyle at one end and the funiculus at the other.

      The endosperm is a copious embryonic nutritive tissue that occupies much of the mature seed in more primitive angiospermous plants. It provides nourishment for the developing embryo and forms with the embryo during double fertilization, a reproductive process unique to angiosperms.

      The more primitive Magnoliidae have a cellular type of endosperm. In the nuclear type of endosperm, repeated nuclear divisions take place before cell wall formation. Nuclear endosperm occurs in the Myristicaceae (Magnoliales); Ranunculaceae, Berberidaceae, Menispermaceae, and Coriariaceae (Ranunculales); and Papaveraceae and Fumariaceae (Papaverales). Both cellular and nuclear endosperm have been found among the Lauraceae (Laurales), Piperaceae (Piperales), and Nymphaeaceae (water lily) (Nymphaeales), lending support to the theory that one type has evolved from the other, and vice versa, many times.

      The seed (seed and fruit) of a primitive angiosperm, such as Winteraceae and Degeneriaceae (Magnoliales), contains a minute, relatively undifferentiated embryo, which occupies only a small part of the seed at maturity. Such plants are at a disadvantage. Because the embryos are so extremely small at the time that the seeds are shed, considerable time is lost while the embryo develops further—i.e., before the actual rupture of the seed coat occurs and a seedling can arise. Also in these primitive plants, the pattern of embryo development is rather irregular and inconsistent—e.g., in Degeneria vitiensis, Drimys winteri. In some of the more advanced Magnoliidae, as, for example, Cinnamomum of the Lauraceae (Laurales), the seeds contain large embryos and little or no endosperm. These angiosperms also have an established pattern of development from an early stage. This means that one can predict not only which cell or cells of a young embryo will be the next to divide, but also what their plane of division will be. In all but a few of the primitive Magnoliidae groups, embryo development has a set pattern and follows one or the other of the types described for flowering plants in general.

      It has been argued that the hypothetical primitive dicotyledonous plant had three or four, rather than two, cotyledons. One of the most primitive angiosperm orders, Magnoliales, has members in which the embryos contain three or four (very rarely two) cotyledons, such as Degeneria (Degeneriaceae). Idiospermum (Idiospermaceae) of the Laurales has three or four cotyledons as well. On the other hand, embryos in some of the more advanced angiosperms also contain more than two cotyledons—e.g., Pittosporaceae (Rosales; Rosidae), in which it seems certain that the polycotyledonous condition evolved from the dicotyledonous one, because the more primitive relatives of these plants have two cotyledons. Whether angiosperms first had three or four, rather than two, cotyledons remains uncertain.

      In the few primitive families of Magnoliales that have been investigated to this point (e.g., Winteraceae and Eupomatiaceae), the cotyledons emerge from the seed and are elevated above the surface (epigeal development), where they become green and capable of photosynthetic activity. In an alternate form of seed development, hypogeal germination, the cotyledons remain inside the seed coat. This also occurs within the Magnoliidae, as in some Annonaceae (Magnoliales). There is an intermediate form of seed germination, as seen in some species of Peperomia (Piperaceae; Piperales), in which one cotyledon remains inside the seed and functions as an absorbing organ and the other becomes the first leaf of the seedling.

      In some angiosperms, the fruits (fruit) are dispersed whole with their included seeds; in others, the fruit opens to release the seeds. The most primitive angiosperm fruit is often said to be a follicle. This consists of a single carpel that opens along a ventral suture to release individual seeds. Although follicles are found in some primitive members of Magnoliidae, such as Magnoliaceae (Magnoliales), and occur in the early fossil history of flowering plants, many other types of fruit are seen in the subclass as well. Most Magnoliidae, however, have indehiscent fleshy fruits, predominantly berries, which are dispersed by birds.

Ecology and habitats

      The Magnoliidae occupy a wide range of habitats and are found in most countries. They occur in most habitats where other flowering plants exist, except in salt water, where only a few specialized angiosperms can survive. The Magnoliidae include short, medium, and tall trees; shrubs, some in Alpine regions; scramblers, vines, and climbers—a few of which are root parasites; annual and perennial herbs; and rooted and free-floating freshwater plants. They occur in tropical, subtropical, and temperate forests from low to high altitudes; in shrub lands from sea level to Alpine regions; and on stream banks, grasslands, lakes, bogs, marshes, and mountain slopes. Some of the Papaveraceae thrive in deserts.

      Some of the more primitive angiosperms are considered to be rare and endangered species. One of the most vulnerable is Lactoris fernandeziana (Lactoridaceae), a family distantly related to other families of the order Magnoliales. The plant grows on a single island, Nearer Land Island of the Juan Fernández Islands, 650 kilometres west of Chile. A tiny shrub, Lactoris is sparsely distributed in fog-swept forests and grows under the shade of shrubs and ferns. The principal mechanisms of extinction may be grazing animals and competition from hardier plants.

      A relict genus may rely on a particular pollinator for its continued existence, the absence of which may mean the extinction of the dependent plant species. The Eupomatiaceae, another family quite isolated taxonomically from others, contains two species of Eupomatia, both of which occur in eastern Australia and one of which is also in New Guinea. Eupomatia species are pollinated by a single genus of beetles (Elleschodes); if the beetles become extinct, so probably will Eupomatia.

      Winteraceae is generally considered to be the most primitive group of the flowering plants and is found farther back in the fossil record than any other known family. Takhtajania is unusual in the family in apparently having a flower with an ovary consisting of two fused carpels with peripheral ovules. There have been conflicting views on its nature. Full details may never be known, for Takhtajania, which is confined to Madagascar, is known only from a pressed and dried specimen.

      The greatest number of species of Magnoliidae are native to tropical regions, and there probably remain many undescribed members of the subclass in that area. With the rapid clearing of tropical forest for agriculture, and with the populations of most tropical countries increasing steadily, many members of this group face extinction in the future.

Form and function

Vegetative structures

      The tracheid is the basic conducting element in the xylem of vascular plants. It is an elongated, water-conducting cell, dead at maturity and surrounded by a lignified secondary wall. The vessel-less tracheids of gymnosperms permit relatively slow water movement, making these plants vulnerable to wilting when water transpires from leaves faster than it can be replaced from the roots. Thus, the greatest limitation on gymnosperms has been not in geographic range but on the habitats they can occupy and on the life forms they can exhibit. (Gymnosperms, for example, are not annuals, and they have adapted small leaves and thick cuticles as protection from desiccation.) Angiosperms, on the other hand, have evolved a vessel system from the tracheids, which has enabled them to occupy the widest possible range of habitats (see angiosperm: Structure and function (angiosperm)). The two characteristic conducting structures of the angiosperm tracheary elements are vessel members and the tracheids. Vessel members resemble the tracheids but have perforations usually confined to the end walls of the cell (tracheids have pits, which are thinner parts of the wall but not perforations, along the length of the cell). Several vessel members are joined end-to-end to form vessels, providing more efficient water conduction. Vessels do occur in one small group of gymnosperms, the Gnetophyta. This does not, however, imply a relationship with angiosperms, for the vessels of these gymnosperms evolved from a different type of tracheid.

      Vessels have evolved only to the level of conductiveness required by a particular plant. Stages in their evolution are therefore preserved in extant plants, especially the primitive Magnoliidae. The most primitive vessel members, e.g., in Eupomatia (Eupomatiaceae), resemble the tracheids from which they evolved, being long and narrow with long, sloping end walls. The only difference is that, in vessel members, perforations replace the membranes inside the many bordered pits, forming scalariform vessels with which to expedite the movement of water through the vessel member.

      Fewer than 200 species of angiosperms have the primitive feature of vesselless wood. With two exceptions, all vesselless angiosperms occur in the Magnoliidae. The exceptions, Trochodendron (Trochodendraceae) and Tetracentron (Tetracentraceae), show definite links with the Magnoliidae, but are classified in the most primitive order of the subclass Hamamelidae. Of the Magnoliidae, all Winteraceae (Magnoliales), Amborellaceae (Laurales), and Nymphaeales lack vessels, although vessels are in the roots of Nelumbo. Magnoliidae with primitive vessels usually grow on deep shady sites close to water, where there is a minimum of water stress; an example of such is Illicium (Illiciales). (Water stress occurs when there is a considerable difference between the amount of water available to the plant via the roots and the amount of water lost from the plant at its leaves by evapotranspiration.)

      As they evolved, vessel members became shorter, wider, and rounder. The many transverse slitlike perforations arranged one above the other like rungs in a ladder (scalariform perforation plates) in the long sloping end walls were gradually replaced by fewer, larger, rounder perforations in more transverse end walls, leading to transverse walls with a single large perforation (simple perforation plates). Such vessels are weaker. Large woody plants that possess them compensate by having many fibres or fibre-tracheids in their wood.

      Only in angiosperms are sieve tubes (sieve tube) and companion cells found in the phloem (see angiosperm: Tissue systems: Vascular tissue (angiosperm)). In other vascular plants, parenchyma cells function in the same way as companion cells (that is, as the sieve cell's living protoplasm), but they are not derived from the same mother cell as the sieve element. The sieve cells of gymnosperms and pteridophytes are less efficient conductors of food materials than the sieve-tube members of angiosperms, because they do not have enlarged sieve pores in their more sloping end walls. The only angiosperm to have parenchyma cells with the same function as companion cells is Austrobaileya (Austrobaileyaceae) in the order Magnoliales. Austrobaileya seems to retain a stage in the evolution of phloem in angiosperms, for a few companion cells have recently been found in its phloem as well.

      A wide range of leaf types are found in the Magnoliidae, some resembling those of early fossils. The types of stomata (stomate) also range widely, sometimes even within a single family (e.g., Winteraceae). There is, however, no clear way to discern the primitive from the advanced types of stomata. Most Magnoliidae contain ethereal oil cells, commonly with isoquinoline alkaloids, in their leaves and often in other aerial parts as well. Such ethereal oil cells are not found in other subclasses. It has been suggested that they form a chemical defense mechanism against predators and pathogens.

Reproductive structures

      The archetypal angiosperm flower may well have lacked sepals and petals, for some primitive Magnoliidae seem to lack sepals and petals (a perianth) or tepals. In Eupomatia (Magnoliales), for example, the young flower bud is covered by a floral leaf (bract) that drops off at the time of flowering, exposing a naked flower (with stamens and carpels). Although the flower appears to have petals, it is actually a false, or pseudo- , perianth because it lies between the stamens and carpels rather than surrounding these reproductive structures; the pseudoperianth is thought to have evolved from sterile stamens (staminodes). It releases odours that attract beetle pollinators and is partially eaten by them. Trimenia has what appears to be a stage in the derivation of a perianth from bracts. Bracts cover the whole flower stalk (pedicel) and invest the flower bud. Those bracts closest to the flower appear to more closely resemble the petals and sepals in shape and arrangement, and all are shed at the time of flowering. Some primitive Magnoliidae have a dull perianth, while others, such as Magnolia, have a showy petallike one; in woody Magnoliidae, however, there is never a clear differentiation into typical sepals and petals.

      Early fossil flowers and the vast majority of Magnoliidae are bisexual, although the fossil record indicates that early flowers could revert to unisexuality. This has occurred in some primitive families. For example, unlike other Winteraceae, most species of Tasmannia have unisexual flowers. The flowers indicate their bisexual origins by the presence of sterile carpels in the centre of the male flowers. In the Magnoliidae, as in early fossil flowers, the number and arrangement of floral parts varies; in other subclasses these characteristics are more fixed. For example, members in each of the more than 350 genera and some of the more than 3,000 species in the family Brassicaceae (Dilleniidae) have the same number and arrangement of petals. Although it seems that the perianth has evolved from bracts in most Magnoliidae, some investigators believe that the petals of Nymphaeaceae (Nymphaeales), the water lilies, have evolved from sterile stamens. Possible evidence for this lies in the presence of petallike structures with tiny pollen sacs intermediate between stamens and petals in extant Nymphaea flowers and in the evolution of these petallike organs from staminodes (as in Eupomatia; Magnoliales), albeit inside the stamens. It also seems possible that outer staminodes differentiated into typical petals in the Ranunculaceae and in most advanced dicotyledons.

      The discovery of Degeneria (Degeneriaceae) in Fiji in 1942 by the American botanists Irving W. Bailey, Albert C. Smith, and others renewed researchers' interest in the Ranunculales as the most primitive dicotyledonous plant group. Degeneria is an example of a vanulean angiosperm with primitive stamens and carpels (carpel). It has leaflike, three-veined stamens and carpels rather than the obvious filaments and anthers of more modern groups. A pair of pollen sacs embedded between the midvein and each lateral vein run most of its length. In the leaflike carpels, a row of ovules is embedded on either side of the midvein, and the carpel is folded in along the central axis, with the seams facing the centre of the flower (a conduplicate carpel). This primitive carpel has been found in a Cretaceous fossil and in some of the Winteraceae (Magnoliales). Conventional carpels—with stigma, style, and ovary—evolved in a number of families of Magnoliales, including the Magnoliaceae. Similarly there are members in the Magnoliales and Nymphaeales that exhibit leaflike stamens and stages in evolution of stamens from the leaflike, three-veined condition to the conventional single-veined stamens with anther and filament, even within a single family (e.g., Nymphaeaceae; Nymphaeales). The number of carpels per flower varies considerably in the subclass. The carpels are not fused in almost all of the Magnoliales, Laurales, and Illiciales, but in some Piperales, Aristolochiales, Nymphaeales, and Ranunculales and in all Papaverales they are fused.

       pollen structure is diverse within the Magnoliidae. Pollen with three elongated apertures equidistant from one another (tricolpate pollen) and related forms are dominant in the more advanced angiosperm subclasses but are almost absent in monocotyledons as well as in all but a few of the Magnoliidae. The most frequent pollen types found in Magnoliidae and in the earliest angiosperm fossil pollen are monosulcate (in which grains have a single elongated aperture), inaperturate (without apertures), polyforate (with many round apertures), and biaperturate pollen. These types are not fundamentally different, for Trimenia (Laurales) has pollen that is inaperturate, polyforate, or disulculate (a biaperturate type). Such forms would have evolved from one to another many times over.

      There is increasing evidence that early flowers were pollinated by insects and that this was one of the early events that triggered the evolution of the flowering plants. Some insect groups were well-established before angiosperms evolved, especially beetles (Coleoptera) and flies (Diptera). The Hymenoptera (wasps and bees) appeared in the Triassic (245 to 208 million years ago), although it seems that they and Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) only came into prominence near the end of the Cretaceous Period (144 to 66.4 million years ago). pollination by beetles is found in many primitive Magnoliidae, including Magnolia, Eupomatia, Calycanthus, and possibly Degeneria. Pollination in various members of the Winteraceae is carried out by beetles, primitive moths, flies, thrips, and even caterpillars. Plants highly adapted for wind pollination, such as grasses (Poaceae), did not appear until later in the evolution of the angiosperms.

Evolution

      The oldest definitive angiosperm fossils (fossil) are from the Early Cretaceous (144 to 97.5 million years ago). The most abundant fossils are pollen grains (this is because the outer coat, or exine, contains sporopollenin, a chemical that is extremely resistant to decay). Leaves, wood, and well-preserved flowers also have been recovered from Early Cretaceous sediments. At one time, angiosperms were thought to have appeared suddenly (“explosively”) and were so diverse in structure that it was theorized that they must have originated well before their earliest remains appeared in the fossil record. When the first definitive angiospermous pollen grains and leaves were discovered, however, they were in fact similar to each other and accounted for a small proportion of the fossil plant material. This would suggest that they had evolved from their ancestors not long before they first appeared as fossils. During the course of the Cretaceous (i.e., over a span of 80 million years) many families emerged, and significant structural variations became evident.

      The earliest definitive angiospermous pollen grain is known as Clavatipollenites, which recent studies suggest is probably most closely related to the order Laurales, although it shows some links to the Magnoliales. It first appeared in the rocks of the Barremian, or in those of the slightly earlier Hauterivian, of the Early Cretaceous, about 130 million years ago, and in such diverse regions as England, Australia, and the United States. Clavatipollenites was the oldest known pollen to show a typical angiosperm construction of the outer exine into a perforated tectum (roof)—giving the surface of the grains a network (reticulate) appearance—columellae (pillars), and foot (floor). It had a single elongated aperture (monosulcate) and closely resembled the pollen of Ascarina (Chloranthaceae).

      Other types of pollen appeared a little later in the Cretaceous, between 108.5 and 100.5 million years ago. Also appearing about this time were the oldest fossils of the Magnoliales so far discovered—pollen grains of the Winteraceae. Another monosulcate pollen type that arose early in the fossil record in some primitive Magnoliidae—including Degeneriaceae, Eupomatiaceae, and some Annonaceae—resembles that found in some gymnosperms, having a smooth unperforated surface and a more or less homogenous (structureless) exine. It is debatable which pollen type is more primitive (the tectate-columellate or homogenous type), but they are not fundamentally different from one another, because both have been found within Polyalthia (Annonaceae).

      There are evolutionary advantages in the tectate-columellate type of pollen. These grains more easily expand and contract with changes in humidity, contributing to the longevity of the pollen. Incompatibility proteins operate via two basic methods to promote cross-pollination. In the most common method the proteins, which are stored beneath the tectum in the pollen of many plants, are “recognized” by matching proteins produced in the stigma or styles; this mechanism prevents self-pollination and contributes to greater genetic diversity. Triaperturate pollen, found among the other dicotyledon classes, began to appear later.

      Leaves as well as rather inconspicuous flowers also appeared during the Cretaceous. The first angiosperm leaves evolved contemporaneously with the tectate-columellate pollen described above. They had irregular, basically pinnate venation with a midrib and a secondary vein. Secondary and smaller tertiary veins were poorly defined. The leaves were small and of a simple elliptical or ovate shape. Leaves with features characteristic of Magnoliales also appeared during this time in rock strata of the eastern United States.

      In 1990 Aptian deposits in Australia revealed a small fossil with very thin herbaceous stems, leaves, and female inflorescences. Clavatipollenites pollen was the only angiospermous type found in the same strata. This new fossil has been linked with several extant angiospermous families; its leaves resemble those of Saururaceae, Piperaceae (Piperales), and Aristolochiaceae (Aristolochiales), and its reproductive organs resemble Chloranthaceae (Piperales). If the new fossil had also contained the Clavatipollenites pollen, further links with Chloranthaceae and Aristolochiaceae would have been suggested. An ancestor of such a plant, with a small, rhizomatous perennial form and diminutive reproductive organs, might represent the ancestral angiosperm from which the first monocotyledons and rhizomatous-herbaceous dicotyledons diverged. Furthermore, as the lack of pre-Albian fossil angiosperm wood might indicate, weedy dicotyledon shrubs, which had been considered ancestral to other angiosperms, may have evolved from a plant similar to this Australian fossil.

James Edward Canright F. Bruce Sampson

Additional Reading

Coverage is provided by Peter K. Endress, “Evolution of Reproductive Structures and Functions in Primitive Angiosperms (Magnoliidae),” Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 55:5–34 (February 1990), an extremely useful summary.

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