XVI International Botanical Congess

Over the last 15 years the discovery of diverse and exquisitely preserved Cretaceous fossil flowers has yielded a wealth of information on the structure of ancient angiosperms. Integrated with evidence from extant plants, and particularly increasingly secure hypotheses of relationships based on molecular evidence, these data constrain ideas on the pattern and timing of angiosperm diversification, challenge previous hypotheses of flowering plant evolution, and provide new insights into the evolution of pollination and dispersal mechanisms. Paleobotanical data provide clear evidence of a major diversification of flowering plants between about 130 and 80 myr before present, but the relatively late appearance of the most diverse angiosperm clades implies extraordinarily high rates of diversification, as well as a relatively recent and rapid origin for much of extant angiosperm diversity.