Anthophyta

 ( Historically Recognized Plant Taxa ) 

The anthophytes are a paraphyletic grouping of plant taxa bearing flower-like reproductive structures. The group, once thought to be a clade, contained the Flowering plant – the extant flowering plants, such as Rosaceae and Poaceae – as well as the Gnetales and the extinct Bennettitales.

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

Some more recent studies have used the word anthophyte to describe a hypothetical group which includes the angiosperms and a variety of extinct seed plant groups (with various suggestions including at least some of the following groups: Glossopteridales, corystosperms, Petriellales Pentoxylales, Bennettitales and Caytoniales), but not the Gnetales.