XVI International Botanical Congess

Zingiberales are a monophyletic clade of advanced (commelinid) monocotyledons. Seeds of Musaceae (Ensete) occur in Eocene USA but other genera lack a pre-Quaternary fossil record. Extinct Spirematospermum, known from seeds and fruits of late Cretaceous to Pliocene age, shares morphological attributes with Musaceae and Zingiberaceae. A chemosystematic signature is preserved in Eocene (40 My) seed coats. It shows that:- zingerone has been present since at least the Eocene, zingerone may be a basal synapomorphy for the Zingiberales, - in Spirematospermum zingerone is bound, in the more derived Recent members of the order zingerone and related compounds are extractable, resulting in ginger flavours, - affinities of Spirematospermum are with Musaceae, morphology and chemistry of Spirematospermum support Musaceae as basal in Zingiberales.