ArticleAnnals of botany2026
Expanded character sampling inspired by a new Cretaceous conifer seed cone from California: importance of morphology in resolving relationships among the Cupressaceae.
Article in Annals of botany, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Austrocedrus from the Late Cretaceous of Antarctica and its implications for the early evolution of southern cypresses (Callitroideae, Cupressaceae).American journal of botany · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsCupressaceae are unique as a conifer family for their exceptionally high morphological diversity, particularly as expressed in seed cones. Their fossil record parallels this pattern and has yielded morphologies not represented in the modern flora. Describing diversity over the entire geological history of the family and using these data in a phylogenetic framework provides opportunities to explore evolutionary relationships among fossil and extant members to understand patterns of morphological evolution in the family.
methodsWe describe a new cupressaceous fossil seed cone from the Early Cretaceous (Albian-Aptian boundary; 125 Mya) of California. We construct a novel set of discrete and continuous characters that sample exclusively seed cone morphology and anatomy to explore the evolutionary relationships of the new fossil among living and extinct Cupressaceae, with emphasis on the taxodiaceous grade. KEY
resultsThe seed cone represents a new genus and species, Athrosequoia walkeri Pfeiler et al., and the oldest member of the family having peltate ovuliferous complexes. Athrosequoia walkeri possesses a combination of characters encountered in several living taxodiaceous Cupressaceae subfamilies: Athrotaxidoideae, Sequoioideae and Taxodioideae. This novel combination of characters differentiates it from all previously known genera and consistently supports its stable phylogenetic placement among the taxodiaceous grade.
conclusionsThis study documents additional morphological diversity of taxodiaceous Cupressaceae in the Early Cretaceous. The new character matrix highlights the power of seed cone characters in resolving phylogenetic relationships of fossil species, when combined with tree topology constraints based on results of molecular phylogenetics. Within this framework, additional taxon sampling, alongside denser sampling of morphological characters of living taxa, could provide excellent opportunities to understand both the phylogenetic position of extinct taxa and morphological evolution in the family.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.