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Phylogenetic evidence for the herbaceous origin of angiosperms

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Abstract

The ancestral angiosperm is commonly interpreted as an arborescent to shrubby magnolialean with large, multiparted, complex flowers. We examined this hypothesis using a phylogenetic analysis of new and reevaluated characters polarizabled with outgroup comparison. Our cladistic analysis of basal angiosperms placed the nonmagnolialeanChloranthaceae andPiperaceae at the bottom of the tree. We further inferred the probable ancestral states of characters not polarizable with outgroup comparison by examining their distribution among taxa at the base of our cladogram. The sum of ancestral character states suggests that the protoangiosperm was a diminutive, rhizomatous to scrambling perennial herb, with small, simple flowers.

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  1. David Winship Taylor

    Present address: Department of Biology, Indiana University Southeast, 4201 Grant Line Rd., 47150, New Albany, IN, USA

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  1. Department of Biology, Peabody Museum, Yale University, P.O. Box 6666, 06511, New Haven, CT, USA

    David Winship Taylor

  2. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 6666, 06511, New Haven, CT, USA

    Leo J. Hickey

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Taylor, D.W., Hickey, L.J. Phylogenetic evidence for the herbaceous origin of angiosperms. Pl Syst Evol 180, 137–156 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00941148

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