Early Flowers and Angiosperm Evolution

A study of the evolution of flowering plants, from their earliest phases in obscurity to their dominance in modern vegetation.

Else Marie Friis (Author), Peter R. Crane (Author), Kaj Raunsgaard Pedersen (Author)

9780521592833, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 August 2011

596 pages, 237 b/w illus. 90 colour illus.
25.2 x 19.5 x 3.1 cm, 1.43 kg

' … how do you write a definitive book for the 21st Century? Early Flowers and Angiosperm Evolution provides a blueprint … It stands as a superbly annotated index of the data behind our current understanding of early angiosperm evolution... This is among the most beautiful scholarly books I've seen in a long time. Outcrop pictures are clearly rendered in color, and maps and some diagrams include a touch of hue to enhance interpretation … It is detailed, accessible and offers a synthetic perspective from a team that has been thinking deeply about this topic for decades. And I hope this isn't the last word. But the thing I love best about paleontology is that one fossil can rewrite everything we thought that we knew. Then we'll be ready for the next definitive book.' Evolution – This View of Life: Paleontology Magazine

The recent discovery of diverse fossil flowers and floral organs in Cretaceous strata has revealed astonishing details about the structural and systematic diversity of early angiosperms. Exploring the rich fossil record that has accumulated over the last three decades, this is a unique study of the evolutionary history of flowering plants from their earliest phases in obscurity to their dominance in modern vegetation. The discussion provides comprehensive biological and geological background information, before moving on to summarise the fossil record in detail. Including previously unpublished results based on research into Early and Late Cretaceous fossil floras from Europe and North America, the authors draw on direct palaeontological evidence of the pattern of angiosperm evolution through time. Synthesising palaeobotanical data with information from living plants, this unique book explores the latest research in the field, highlighting connections with phylogenetic systematics, structure and the biology of extant angiosperms.

Preface
1. Introduction to angiosperms
2. The nature of the angiosperm fossil record
3. The environmental context of early angiosperm evolution
4. Stratigraphic framework and key areas for Cretaceous angiosperms
5. Angiosperms in context: extant and fossil seed plants
6. Origin and age of angiosperms
7. Phylogenetic framework and the assignment of fossils to extant groups
8. Fossils near the base of the angiosperm tree
9. Early fossil angiosperms of uncertain relationships
10. Early fossils of eumagnoliids
11. Fossils of monocots
12. Fossils of eudicots: early diverging groups
13. Fossils of core eudicots: basal lineages
14. Fossils of core eudicots: rosids
15. Early fossils of eudicots: asterids
16. Patterns of structural diversification in angiosperm reproductive organs
17. History and evolution of pollination in angiosperms
18. History and evolution of dispersal in angiosperms
19. Vegetational context of early angiosperm diversification
20. The accumulation of angiosperm diversity
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Plant ecology [PSTS], Plant reproduction & propagation [PSTL], Plant physiology [PSTD], Botany & plant sciences [PST]