Dear Editor,Charles Darwin’s"abominable mystery,"referring to the sudden appearance and diversification of dicotyledons during the Cretaceous period,has puzzled scientists for over a century(Zuntini et al.,...Dear Editor,Charles Darwin’s"abominable mystery,"referring to the sudden appearance and diversification of dicotyledons during the Cretaceous period,has puzzled scientists for over a century(Zuntini et al.,2024).Magnoliids,the third largest group of angiosperms(Wu et al.,2021),are dicotyledonous plants that retain primitive anatomical and morphological traits,such as single-aperture pollen,unfused carpels,small embryos,and abundant endosperm in their seeds(Bourras et al.,2016).Such characteristics are crucial in understanding the evolutionary status of magnoliids and may provide insights into solving Darwin’s abominable mystery.However,the taxonomic position of magnoliids relative to other angiosperms,particularly monocots and eudicots,remains uncertain,with ongoing debates on this topic in the scientific community(Jiang et al.,2024).展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32160058).
文摘Dear Editor,Charles Darwin’s"abominable mystery,"referring to the sudden appearance and diversification of dicotyledons during the Cretaceous period,has puzzled scientists for over a century(Zuntini et al.,2024).Magnoliids,the third largest group of angiosperms(Wu et al.,2021),are dicotyledonous plants that retain primitive anatomical and morphological traits,such as single-aperture pollen,unfused carpels,small embryos,and abundant endosperm in their seeds(Bourras et al.,2016).Such characteristics are crucial in understanding the evolutionary status of magnoliids and may provide insights into solving Darwin’s abominable mystery.However,the taxonomic position of magnoliids relative to other angiosperms,particularly monocots and eudicots,remains uncertain,with ongoing debates on this topic in the scientific community(Jiang et al.,2024).
