title: Archaefructaceae, a new basal angiosperm family.
abstract: Archaefructaceae is proposed as a new basal angiosperm family of herbaceous aquatic plants. This family consists of the fossils Archaefructus liaoningensis and A. sinensis sp. nov. Complete plants from roots to fertile shoots are known. Their age is a minimum of 124.6 million years from the Yixian Formation, Liaoning, China. They are a sister clade to all angiosperms when their characters are included in a combined three-gene molecular and morphological analysis. Their reproductive axes lack petals and sepals and bear stamens in pairs below conduplicate carpels.
authors: Research Center of Palaeontology, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China. sunge@jlu.edu.cn
authors: Ge
authors: G
authors: Sun
authors: Qiang
authors: Q
authors: Ji
authors: David L
authors: DL
authors: Dilcher
authors: Shaolin
authors: S
authors: Zheng
authors: Kevin C
authors: KC
authors: Nixon
authors: Xinfu
authors: X
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D005580:Fossils; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D010802:Phylogeny; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D018514:Plant Structures / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D011058:Pollen; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water