Angiosperm floral structures from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal

Abstract

Rich fossil floras including structurally preserved flowers, fruits, seeds and dispersed stamens have recently been extracted from mid-Early Cretaceous sediments from Portugal. The material illustrates considerable morphological variability in number and arrangement of floral parts, with the most diversity among magnoliid taxa; relatively few eudicots have been identified. Generally the flowers are small with undifferentiated perianth and massive androecium, and include both bisexual and unisexual forms. The most unexpected result of this study of Early Cretaceous flowers from Portugal is the presence of several epigynous forms at this early stage of angiosperm evolution.