Three unrooted trees showing the relationships among the Gnetales (blue), Conifers (Green), Ginkgo&Cycads(Coral) and Angiosperms (fuschia). Bowe et al. 2000. Phylogeny of seed plants based on all three genomic compartments: Extant gymnosperms are

monophyletic and Gnetales' closest relatives are conifers PNAS 97: 4092-4097.

Tree based on Phytochrome A and Phytochrome C. Note high bootstrap values for Amborella as basal (Matthews and Donoghue, 1999).

Bootstrap Value = 92

Bootstrap Value = 83

New Caledonia home to Amborella trichopoda!

Fiji home to Degeneria

Degeneria- an old contender for the earliest angiosperm.

Amborella (the “A” of ANITA) showing general habit: shrub.UC Santa Cruz Botanical Gardens

www.ucsc.edu/currents/99-00/art/ amborella.flr.99-08-30.jpg

Amborella male flower-note “leaf-like” stamens and sepals and petals that are similar (tepals). Amborella is dioecious.

Amborella branch- evergreen, simple, alternate leaves with wavy edges

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~laidlaw/amborella/amborella_web.html#By_April_1

Amborella is dioecious. Male flowers are about 4mm across and have tepals and 6-21 stamens. The reward for insect pollinators is pollen.

Amborella trichopoda

Amborella Female Flowers

tepals

Staminodes (fake stamens)

3-6 carpels each a simple pistil.

Seeds

Fruits

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~laidlaw/amborella/amborella_web.html#By_April_1

Female Flowering Shoot

Three unrooted trees showing the relationships among the Gnetales (blue), Conifers (Green), Ginkgo&Cycads(Coral) and Angiosperms (fuschia). Bowe et al. 2000. Phylogeny of seed plants based on all three genomic compartments: Extant gymnosperms are

monophyletic and Gnetales' closest relatives are conifers PNAS 97: 4092-4097.

Tree based on Phytochrome A and Phytochrome C. Note high bootstrap values for Amborella as basal (Matthews and Donoghue, 1999).

Bootstrap Value = 92

Bootstrap Value = 83

Qiu et al.’s Tree

(Nature, 25 November 1999)

Based on 5 - genes

2-mitochondrial

2-plastid

1-nuclear

IllicialesNymphaealesAmborella

Basal Angiosperms

Magnoliids

Bootstrap Value = 100

Barkman et al. 6-gene tree (PNAS 2000).

9-gene tree

Barkman et al. 2000

Barkman et al. comparison of bootstrap values for Root A (Amborella and Nymphaeales) vs Root B (Amborella alone). Dark bars are noise-reduced; open are raw data.

Amborella and Nymphaeales share the basal clade

Amborella alone is in the basal clade

Support Leans Towards a Shared Clade

Textbook Version of the 4 Main Groups

These 3 groups are unresolved

3. Monocots

2. Magnoliids

1. Basal Angiosperms

4. Eudicots- the largest group

4 Main Angiosperm Groups Shown on Qiu’s Tree

The ANITA group is mostly Australasian.

Amborella is native to New Caledonia

+ =Illiciales

(Trimeniaceae, Amborella)

Austrobaileya