Origin and early evolution of angiosperms.

Contributions from paleobotany, phylogenetics, genomics, developmental biology, and developmental genetics have yielded tremendous insight into Darwin's "abominable mystery"--the origin and rapid diversification of the angiosperms. Analyses of morphological and molecular data reveal a revised "anthophyte clade" consisting of the fossils glossopterids, Pentoxylon, Bennettitales, and Caytonia as sister to angiosperms. Molecular estimates of the age of crown group angiosperms have converged on 140-180 million years ago (Ma), older than the oldest fossils (132 Ma), suggesting that older fossils remain to be discovered. Whether the first angiosperms were forest shrubs (dark-and-disturbed hypothesis) or aquatic herbs (wet-and-wild hypothesis) remains unclear. The near-basal phylogenetic position of Nymphaeales (water lilies), which may include the well-known fossil Archaefructus, certainly indicates that the aquatic habit arose early. After initial, early "experiments," angiosperms radiated rapidly (