Anthophyta

The anthophytes are a grouping of plant taxa bearing flower-like reproductive structures. They were formerly thought^{[when?][by whom?]} to be a clade comprising plants bearing flower-like structures. The group contained the angiosperms - the extant flowering plants, such as roses and grasses - as well as the Gnetales and the extinct Bennettitales.^[1]

Detailed morphological and molecular studies have shown that the group is not actually monophyletic,^[2] with proposed floral homologies of the gnetophytes and the angiosperms having evolved in parallel.^[3] This makes it easier to reconcile molecular clock data that suggests that the angiosperms diverged from the gymnosperms around 320-300 mya.^[4]

Some more recent studies have used the word anthophyte to describe a group which includes the angiosperms and a variety of fossils (glossopterids, Pentoxylon, Bennettitales, and Caytonia), but not the Gnetales.^[5]

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