Abstract
The fossil plant female reproductive organs each with a tricarpous were collected from the Yixian Formation, Chaoyang district, western Liaoning Province. The geological age of the Yixian Formation here is believed to be Late Jurassic, which places this fossil as the oldest angiosperm currently known. Its morphological characters are distinct from other known angiosperm reproductive organs as it has 3 ovaries, each with a terminal style and an apical stigma. 9 such organs compose a cyme. As this morphological arrangement is unique to this plant, a new genus and species has been established, namedChaoyangia liangii gen. et sp. nov.
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Project supported by the Special Finances of Biological Sciences and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (the special item of the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China).
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Duan, S. The oldest angiosperm—a tricarpous female reproductive fossil from western Liaoning Province, NE China. Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci. 41, 14–20 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02932415
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02932415