Nanjinganthus
Genus of plants (fossil) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nanjinganthus dendrostyla is a fossil plant known from Early Jurassic sediments in China and proposed by Fu, et al. to represent a pre-Cretaceous angiosperm. The material consists of numerous compression fossils which bear a resemblance to flowers. The segments bear prominent ridges, suggesting veins, and a few specimens have a branched axis perpendicular to the segments, interpreted by Fu, et al. as a branched style. Beneath the putative perianth, Fu, et al. interpret the existence of ovules enclosed in ovaries, however, the preservation of this region of the structure is poor.
Nanjinganthus | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Spermatophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms (?) |
Genus: | †Nanjinganthus Fu et al., 2018 |
Species: | †N. dendrostyla |
Binomial name | |
†Nanjinganthus dendrostyla Fu et al., 2018 | |
If this fossil is an angiosperm, it would extend the first appearance of angiosperms by 50 million years.[1][2]
The interpretation of Nanjinganthus as an angiosperm is disputed by Coiro, Doyle & Hilton (2019), who suggest the fossils are more consistent with a conifer, representing either fragmented pollen cones or axes which bore ovuliferous cone scales.[3] Other authors have advanced similar criticisms, particularly disputing the interpretation of the pentamerous nature of the perianth and supporting the interpretation as a conifer cone.[4]