Reproductive biology of the Permian Glossopteridales and their suggested relationship to flowering plants
Taylor, E.L.; Taylor, T.N.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 89(23): 11495-11497
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0027-8424 PMID: 11607341 DOI: 10.2307/2360735
Accession: 009341742
The discovery of permineralized glossopterid reproductive organs from Late Permian deposits in the Beardmore Glacier region (central Transantarctic Mountains) of Antarctica provides anatomical evidence for the adaxial attachment of the seeds to the megasporophyll in this important group of Late Paleozoic seed plants. The position of the seeds is in direct contradiction to many earlier descriptions, based predominantly on impression/compression remains. The attachment of the ovules on the adaxial surface of a leaf-like megasporophyll, combined with other features, such as megagametophyte development, suggests a simpler gymnospermous reproductive biology in this group than has previously been hypothesized. These findings confirm the classification of the Glossopteridales as seed ferns and are important considerations in discussions of the phylogeny of the group, including their suggested role as close relatives or possible ancestors of the angiosperms.