Caytoniales

Caytoniales
Fig.1 A whole-plant reconstruction of Caytonia nathorstii[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: †Pteridospermatophyta
Order: †Caytoniales
Gothan, 1932
Family: †Caytoniaceae
Kräusel, 1926
Form genera

The Caytoniales (Figs. 1-2) are an extinct order of seed plants known from fossils collected throughout the Mesozoic Era, around 252 to 66 million years ago.[2][3][4] They are regarded as seed ferns because they are seed-bearing plants with fern-like leaves.[4] Although at one time considered angiosperms because of their berry-like cupules,[5] that hypothesis was later disproven.[6] Nevertheless, some authorities consider them likely ancestors or close relatives of angiosperms.[7] The origin of angiosperms remains unclear, and they cannot be linked with any known seed plants groups with certainty.

  1. ^ Retallack, G.J.; Dilcher, D.L. (1988). "Reconstructions of selected seed ferns". Missouri Botanical Garden Annals. 75 (3): 1010–1057. doi:10.2307/2399379. JSTOR 2399379.
  2. ^ Niklas, Karl J. (1997). The Evolutionary Biology of Plants. University Of Chicago Press. p. 470. ISBN 978-0-226-58083-8.
  3. ^ National Academy of Sciences (2000). Ayala, Francisco J.; Fitch, Walter M.; Clegg, Michael T. (eds.). Variation and Evolution in Plants and Microorganisms: Toward a New Synthesis 50 Years after Stebbins. National Academies Press. p. 352. ISBN 978-0-309-07099-7.
  4. ^ a b Arnold, Chester (1947). An Introduction To Paleobotany. Miller Press. p. 428. ISBN 978-1-4067-1861-4.
  5. ^ Thomas, Hamshaw (1925). "The Caytoniales, A new group of angiospermous plants from the Jurassic rocks of Yorkshire". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B213 (402–410): 299–363. doi:10.1098/rstb.1925.0006.
  6. ^ Harris, T.M (1933). "A new member of the Caytoniales". New Phytologist. 32 (2): 97–114. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1933.tb07001.x.
  7. ^ Doyle, J.A. (1978). "Origin of angiosperms". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 9: 365–392). doi:10.1146/annurev.es.09.110178.002053.