flowering plant
Flowering plants include multiple members of the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek#REDIRECT Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece
Greec ...
s which diverged from the lineage leading to most flowering plants. In particular, the most basal
Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''.
Science
* Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure
* Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is neces ...
angiosperms were called the ANITA grade which is made up of ''Amborella
''Amborella'' is a monotypic
In biology
Biology is the natural science that studies life and living organisms, including their anatomy, physical structure, Biochemistry, chemical processes, Molecular biology, molecular interactions, Ph ...
'' (a single species of shrub from New Caledonia), Nymphaeales
The Nymphaeales are an order
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Orderliness
Orderliness is a quality that is characterized by a person’s interest in keeping their surroundings and themselves well organized, and is associated with other ...
(water lilies, together with some other aquatic plants) and Austrobaileyales
Austrobaileyales is an order (biology), order of flowering plants consisting of about 100 species of woody plants growing as trees, shrubs and lianas. Perhaps the most familiar species is ''Illicium verum'', from which comes the spice star anise. ...
(woody aromatic plants including star anise).
''ANITA'' stands for '''', ''N''ymphaeales and ''I'' lliciales, ''T''rimeniaceae-'' Austrobaileya''. Some authors have shortened this to ''ANA''-grade for the three orders, ''A''mborellales, ''N''ymphaeales, and , since the order ''I'' lliciales was reduced to the family Illiciaceae
Illiciaceae Albert Charles Smith, A.C.Sm. was a family of flowering plants recognized in a number of systems of plant taxonomy. The Illiciaceae is not recognized as a distinct family by the APG III system of plant taxonomy, the most well accepte ...
and placed, along with the family ''T''rimeniaceae, within the .
The basal angiosperms are only a few hundred species, compared with hundreds of thousands of species of eudicot
The eudicots, Eudicotidae or eudicotyledons are a clade of flowering plants mainly characterized by having two seed leaves upon germination. The term derives from Dicotyledons.
Traditionally they were called tricolpates or non-magnoliid dicots ...
s, monocots
Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae
Lilianae (also known as Liliiflorae) is a botanical name for a superorder (that is, a rank (botany), rank higher than that of order (biology), order) of flowering plants. Such a supe ...
, and magnoliid
Magnoliids (or Magnoliidae or Magnolianae) are a group of flowering plants. Until recently, the group included about 9,000 species, including magnolias, nutmeg, bay laurel, cinnamon, avocado, black pepper, tulip tree and many others. The group is ...
s. They diverged from the ancestral angiosperm lineage before the five groups comprising the mesangiosperm
Mesangiospermae (core angiosperms) is a clade of flowering plants (angiosperms), informally called "mesangiosperms". They are one of two main groups of angiosperms. It is a name created under the rules of the ''PhyloCode'' system of phylogenetic n ...
s diverged from each other.
Phylogeny
The exact relationships between ''Amborella
''Amborella'' is a monotypic
In biology
Biology is the natural science that studies life and living organisms, including their anatomy, physical structure, Biochemistry, chemical processes, Molecular biology, molecular interactions, Ph ...
'', Nymphaeales
The Nymphaeales are an order
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Orderliness
Orderliness is a quality that is characterized by a person’s interest in keeping their surroundings and themselves well organized, and is associated with other ...
and Austrobaileyales
Austrobaileyales is an order (biology), order of flowering plants consisting of about 100 species of woody plants growing as trees, shrubs and lianas. Perhaps the most familiar species is ''Illicium verum'', from which comes the spice star anise. ...
are not yet clear. Although most studies show that ''Amborella'' and Nymphaeales are more basal than Austrobaileyales, and all three are more basal than the mesangiosperms, there is significant molecular evidence in favor of two different trees, one in which ''Amborella'' is sister to the rest of the angiosperms, and one in which a clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyly, monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineage (evolution), lineal descendants - on a phylogenetic tree. R ...
of ''Amborella'' and Nymphaeales is in this position. A 2014 paper says that it presents "the most convincing evidence to date that ''Amborella'' plus Nymphaeales together represent the earliest diverging lineage of extant angiosperms". A number of other studies identify ''Amborella'' the most basal of all angiosperms.
Older terms
''Paleodicots'' (sometimes spelled "palaeodicots") is an informal name used by botanists (Spichiger & Savolainen 1997, Leitch et al. 1998) to refer to angiosperms which are notmonocot
Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae
Lilianae (also known as Liliiflorae) is a botanical name for a superorder (that is, a rank (botany), rank higher than that of order (biology), order) of flowering plants. Such a supe ...
s or eudicots
The eudicots, Eudicotidae or eudicotyledons are a clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyly, monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineage ...
.
The paleodicots correspond to Magnoliidae sensu Cronquist 1981 (minus Ranunculales and Papaverales) and to Magnoliidae sensu Takhtajan 1980 (Spichiger & Savolainen 1997). Some of the paleodicots share apparently plesiomorphic characters with monocots, e.g., scattered vascular bundles, trimerous flowers, and non-tricolpate pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance consisting of pollen grains which are microsporophytes of seed plants
The spermatophytes (; ), also known as phanerogams (taxon Phanerogamae) or phaenogams (taxon Phaenogamae), comprise those plant
Plant ...
.
The "paleodicots" are not a monophyletic group and the term has not been widely adopted. The APG II system does not recognize a group called "paleodicots" but assigns these early-diverging dicots to several orders and unplaced families: Amborellaceae
''Amborella'' is a monotypic
In biology
Biology is the natural science that studies life and living organisms, including their anatomy, physical structure, Biochemistry, chemical processes, Molecular biology, molecular interactions, Ph ...
, Nymphaeaceae
Nymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizome, rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate and Tropics, tropical climates around the world. The family contains five genera with about 70 known ...
(including Cabombaceae
The Cabombaceae are a family of aquatic, herbaceous flowering plants
The flowering plants, also known as Angiospermae (), or Magnoliophyta (), are the most diverse group of land plants
The Embryophyta () or land plants are the most familiar ...
), Austrobaileyales
Austrobaileyales is an order (biology), order of flowering plants consisting of about 100 species of woody plants growing as trees, shrubs and lianas. Perhaps the most familiar species is ''Illicium verum'', from which comes the spice star anise. ...
, Ceratophyllales
Ceratophyllaceae is a cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of flowering plants including one living genus commonly found in ponds, marshes, and quiet streams in tropical and in temperate regions. It is the only extant ...
(not included among the "paleodicots" by Leitch et al. 1998), Chloranthaceae
Chloranthaceae is a family
In , family (from la, familia) is a of people related either by (by recognized birth) or (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of families is to maintain the well-being of its members and of soci ...
, and the magnoliid
Magnoliids (or Magnoliidae or Magnolianae) are a group of flowering plants. Until recently, the group included about 9,000 species, including magnolias, nutmeg, bay laurel, cinnamon, avocado, black pepper, tulip tree and many others. The group is ...
clade (orders Canellales
Canellales is the botanical name for an order of flowering plants, one of the four orders of the magnoliids. It is recognized by the most recent classification of flowering plants, the APG IV system. It is defined to contain two families: Canell ...
, Piperales
Piperales is an order of flowering plants (4,170 recognized species). It necessarily includes the family Piperaceae but other taxa have been included or disincluded variously over time. Well-known plants which may be included in this order inclu ...
, Laurales
The Laurales are an order of flowering plants. They are magnoliids, related to the Magnoliales.
The order includes about 2500-2800 species from 85-90 genera, which comprise seven families of trees and shrubs. Most of the species are tropical and ...
, and Magnoliales
The Magnoliales are an order of flowering plant
Flowering plants include multiple members of the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek#REDIRECT Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greec ...
). Subsequent research has added Hydatellaceae
Hydatellaceae are a family
In human society, family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of families is to maintain th ...
to the paleodicots.
The term ''paleoherb'' is another older term for flowering plants which are neither eudicots nor monocots.
References
External links
tolweb.org
{{Angiosperm orders Angiosperms