Anthophyta

The anthophytes were thought to be a clade comprising plants bearing flower-like structures. The group contained the angiosperms - the extant flowering plants, such as roses and grasses - as well as the Gnetales and the extinct Bennettitales.

Detailed morphological and molecular studies have shown that the group is not actually monophyletic, with proposed floral homologies of the gnetophytes and the angiosperms having evolved in parallel.^[1] This makes it easier to reconcile molecular clock data that suggests that the angiosperms diverged from the gymnosperms around 300 million years ago.^[2]

Some more recent studies have used the word anthophyte to describe a group which includes the angiosperms and a variety of fossils (glossopterids, Pentoxylon, Bennettitales, and Caytonia), but not the Gnetales.^[3]

Phylogeny of anthophytes and gymnosperms, from ^[1]

Cycads Ginkgo Conifers Anthophytes Bennettitales Gnetales Angiosperms	Angiosperms Gymnosperms Cycads Bennettitales Ginkgo Conifers Gnetales
Traditional view	Modern view

References

1. Crepet, W. L. (2000). "Progress in understanding angiosperm history, success, and relationships: Darwin's abominably "perplexing phenomenon"". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97 (24): 12939–41. doi:10.1073/pnas.97.24.12939. PMC 34068. PMID 11087846.
2. Nam J.; et al. (2003). "Antiquity and Evolution of the MADS-Box Gene Family Controlling Flower Development in Plants". Mol. Biol. Evol. 20 (9): 1435–1447. doi:10.1093/molbev/msg152. PMID 12777513.
3. Soltis, D. E.; Bell, CD; Kim, S; Soltis, PS (June 2008). "The Year in Evolutionary Biology 2008". Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1133 (1): 3–25. doi:10.1196/annals.1438.005. PMID 18559813.

4. Doyle, J. A. & Donoghue, M. J. (1986) SEED PLANT PHYLOGENY AND THE ORIGIN OF ANGIOSPERMS - AN EXPERIMENTAL CLADISTIC APPROACH. Botanical Review, 52(4), 321-431. DOI 10.1007/bf02861082