Archaefructus : not the oldest angiosperm anymore

In 2015, an ancient plant fossil named Montsechia vidalii has claimed the throne of the oldest angiosperm. Before its discovery, Archaefructus liaoningensis was believed to be the oldest angiosperm in the world.

Archaefructus liaoningensis Source: wikipedia

The flowers for both of them do not have petal nor sepal. For Archaeofructus, the scientists found its fruit and female flowers. There was no male flower to be found. Both of them seem to produce unisexual flowers.

The word Archaefructus is also a combination of prefix and suffix. Try to figure it out before you see the rest of this article.

The prefix, archae(o)-, is the same as arche(o)-. We have learned it from Lesson 16-2. Both of them are originated from Greek word archaios, meaning ancient, old.

The other part of Archaefructus, -fructus, is also having a Greek origin. It is originated from fructus, meaning fruit.

Putting them together, Archaefructus, meaning "ancient fruit".

Archaeofructus was dated back 125 million years and Montsechia was dated back 130 million years. Therefore, Archaeofructus is no longer the oldest angiosperm anymore.

However, both of them are water-borne plants. The research team for Montsechia also suggested that its pollens are probably carried by water.

Although only 5% of angiosperm live in water, the discovery of Montsechia suggested a possibility that the primitive angiosperms could be all water-borne.

As a final note, the second part of Archaefructus' name, liaoningensis, is a memoir of the place it was discovered. It was found in the Province of Liaoning, China.

中文課程請點：Archaefructus 遼寧古果

Archaefructus 遼寧古果

最近發表在「美國國家科學院院刊」（Proceedings of National Academy of Science of USA，簡稱PNAS）的Montsechia vidalii，把十幾年前在遼寧發現的「遼寧古果」（Archaefructus liaoningensis）從世界上最古老的種子植物的寶座上給踢下來了。

遼寧古果。圖片來源：wiki

遼寧古果的花可能也沒有花瓣與花萼，發現的化石有果實，但找不到雄花。最近發現的Montsechia，也一樣沒有發現花瓣與花萼。

這些最原始的種子植物，好像都是雌雄異花。

遼寧古果的屬名Archaefructus其實也是字首與字根拼起來的，看得出來嗎？

archae(o)-與第十六課（二）的arche(o)-是同源的字首，都是由希臘文的archaios來的，意思是古老的。

而-fructus則是源自於拉丁文的fructus，意思就是果實（fruit）。

遼寧古果的年代大約是一億二千五百萬年前，而Montsechia是一億三千萬年前，所以就這樣，世界最古老的種子植物的寶座就拱手讓給Montsechia了。

不過，不管是遼寧古果還是Montsechia，它們都是水生植物。而Montsechia的研究團隊更進一步說明，它應該是水媒花。

現存的種子植物中，只有約百分之五的水生種子植物是依靠水來做為授粉媒介的，Montsechia的發現，意味著最原始的水生種子植物可能都是水媒花呢！