The flowering plants (also called angiosperms) are a major group of land plants. They comprise one of the two groups in the seed plants, distinct in covering their seeds by enclosing them in a true fruit. They bear the reproductive organs in a structure called a flower; the ovule is enclosed within a carpel, which will lead to a fruit.

In the other major group of seed plants, called gymnosperms, the ovule is not enclosed at pollination and the seeds are not in a true fruit, although woody or fleshy cones often enclose and cover the seeds during maturation.

Origins

---

The first evidence of angiosperms appears in the fossil record approximately 140 million years ago, during the Jurassic period (202-135 million years ago). Based on current evidence, it seems that the ancestors of the angiosperms and the Gnetophytes diverged from one another during the late Triassic (245-202 million years ago). Fossil plants with some identifiable angiosperm characteristics appear in the Jurassic and early Cretaceous (135-65 million years ago), but in relatively few and primitive forms. The great angiosperm radiation, when a great diversity of angiosperms appear in the fossil record, occurred in the mid-Cretaceous (approximately 100 million years ago). By the late Cretaceous, angiosperms appear to have become the predominant group of land plants, and many fossil plants recognizable as belonging to modern families (including beech, oak, maple, and magnolia) appeared.

More on [ Flowering plant ]

PLoS Medicine: New Articles

Why Current Publication Practices May Distort Science
John Ioannidis and colleagues argue that the current system of publication in biomedical research provides a distorted view of the reality of scientific data.
Faecal and Urinary Incontinence after Multimodality Treatment of Rectal Cancer
Marilyne Lange and Cornelis van de Velde discuss the differential diagnosis and management of incontinence after rectal cancer treatment.
SLC2A9 Is a High-Capacity Urate Transporter in Humans
Mark Caulfield and colleagues show that the SLC2A9 gene, which encodes a facilitative glucose transporter, is also a high-capacity urate transporter.

EurekAlert! - Biology

Astrocytes and synaptic plasticity
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400
(Rockefeller University Press) By mopping up excess neurotrophic factor from neuronal synapses, astrocytes may finely tune synaptic transmission to affect processes such as learning and memory, say Bergami et al. Their report is published in the Journal of Cell Biology.
Body's anti-HIV drug explained
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400
(University of Southern California) Study in journal Nature reveals atomic structure of enzyme capable of repelling HIV virus, suggesting new approach for drug development.
Pectin power
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400
(Norwich BioScience Institutes) Scientists from the UK's Institute of Food Research have found a new possible explanation for why people who eat more fruit and vegetables may gain protection against the spread of cancers.They have shown that a fragment released from pectin, found in all fruits and vegetables, binds to and is believed to inhibit galectin 3, a protein that plays a role in all stages of cancer progression.

Subscribe to Biology RSS feed