Review: Palaeobotanical redux: revisiting the age of the angiosperms

Although angiosperms are the dominant autotrophs in most parts of the world, their evolutionary origins remain somewhat mysterious. Herendeen et al. review the earliest evidence for angiosperms from the Early Cretaceous, and discuss fossil remains from earlier periods (Jurassic, Triassic) that have some angiosperm-like features. They conclude that none of these earlier fossils are unambiguously angiosperms, although they don’t rule out the possibility that one day a pre-Cretaceous angiosperm fossil will be found. Nature Plants 10.1038/nplants.2017.15