ISHS Acta Horticulturae 615: IV International Conifer Conference
EVIDENCE FOR CONIFER ORIGINS AND EARLY EVOLUTION FROM THE LATE PALAEOZOIC CATHAYSIAN FLORA OF SOUTH EAST ASIA |
| Authors: | J. Hilton, S.-J. Wang, B. Tian, C.-H. Li |
| Keywords: | Coniferales, Cordaitales, palaeobotany, phylogeny, Vojnovskyales |
| Abstract:
The fossil record indicates that the conifers evolved towards the end of the Carboniferous, approximately 300 million years ago, subsequently undergoing their initial phases of diversification during the remainder of the Late Palaeozoic. The majority of this information has been obtained from the fossil floras of Europe and N. America, and only recently have coniferous plants been identified in the stratigraphically contemporaneous Cathaysian flora of SE Asia. These combined data convincingly show the conifers to be morphologically the closest to a now extinct group of seed plants called the Cordaitales, although the precise relationships between the two groups remain unequivocal. In this paper, recent discoveries of conifers and Cordaitales from the Cathaysian flora are reviewed, and the presence of cordaitalean-like conifers and conifer-like cordaitaleans is emphasised. These newly identified plants reduce the degree of morphological distinction observed between these two groups, although the two are still considered to be separate entities in evolutionary terms. The importance of these Cathaysian plants and their significance in contributing to an increased understanding of the origin and early evolution of the conifers is discussed. | |
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