Fossil flowers of Phylica support a 250 Ma origin for Rhamnaceae

Byron B Lamont; Tianhua He

doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2022.08.004

Fossil flowers of Phylica support a 250 Ma origin for Rhamnaceae

Trends Plant Sci. 2022 Nov;27(11):1093-1094. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2022.08.004. Epub 2022 Aug 30.

Authors

Byron B Lamont¹, Tianhua He²

Affiliations

¹ Ecology Section, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6003, Australia. Electronic address: B.Lamont@curtin.edu.au.
² College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia.

PMID: 36055916
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2022.08.004

Abstract

A new fossil discovery reported by Shi et al. changes our understanding of the biogeographic history of the cosmopolitan family, Rhamnaceae. Flowering shoots of the African genus Phylica (Rhamnaceae) dated at 100 million years ago (Ma) imply a 250 Ma origin of the family in fire-prone Gondwanan vegetation that enabled overland dispersal to all continents where it is currently widespread.

Keywords: Cretaceous; Myanmar amber; Rhamnaceae; Triassic; flowering plants; origin.

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MeSH terms

Fires*
Flowers / genetics
Fossils
Rhamnaceae*