Introduction Darwin famously characterized the rapid rise and early diversification of
flowering plants (angiosperms) in the fossil record as an “abominable mystery.” Identifying …

In the past decade, there has been a rise in interest in the plant fossil record. Fossils
potentially provide information for assessing homology and evolutionary change (eg, the …

The molecular era has fundamentally reshaped our knowledge of the evolution and
diversification of angiosperms. One outstanding question is the phylogenetic placement of …

Approaches to patterns of diversification based on counting taxa at a given rank can be
misleading, even when all taxa are monophyletic. Such “rank-based” approaches are …

Since the advent of molecular phylogenetics more than 25 years ago, a major goal of plant
systematists has been to discern the root of the angiosperms. Although most studies indicate …

Angiosperm paleobotany has widened its horizons, incorporated new techniques,
developed new databases, and accepted new questions that can now focus on the evolution …

Recent studies have provided evidence for pulses in the diversification of angiosperms,
ferns, gymnosperms and mosses as well as various groups of animals during the …

The Brassicaceae family is of great scientific interest because it contains the plant model
organism Arabidopsis thaliana. Currently, contemporary plant research activities expand to …

The present-day ubiquity of angiosperm-insect pollination has led to the hypothesis that
these two groups coevolved early in their evolutionary history. However, recent fossil …

Premise of research. Discoveries of fossil flowers in Cretaceous rocks offer improved
evidence for relationships with living clades, but for more secure inferences formal …