Archaefructaceae, a New Basal Angiosperm Family

Archaefructaceae is proposed as a new basal angiosperm family of herbaceous aquatic plants. This family consists of the fossils Archaefructus liaoningensis and A . sinensis sp. nov. Complete plants from roots to fertile shoots are known. Their age is a minimum of 124.6 million years from the Yixian Formation, Liaoning, China. They are a sister clade to all angiosperms when their characters are included in a combined three-gene molecular and morphological analysis. Their reproductive axes lack petals and sepals and bear stamens in pairs below conduplicate carpels.