The main focus of the present project is to study origin and evolution of Gnetales, a topic that is currently under intensive debate. The study includes investigation of relationships and fossil diversity within the group. During the years they have been associated with angiosperms or with conifers, but their morphology is hard to interpret and relationships with other seed plants have never been fully understood. The group was diverse particularly during the Mesozoic and Gnetales has an extensive but almost unstudied fossil record. Until recently, fossil material has mainly consisted of dispersed pollen but lately, several new localities of well preserved gnetalean macrofossils have been discovered in China and Brazil.
The study of a large collection of fossils from China, preserved as compressions or impressions in silty mudstone of Barremian to Aptian (Early Cretaceous) age, is a central issue in this project. Apart from structurally preserved parts rendering comparative morphological studies, the material gives unique information on overall habit of the plants. We further investigate coalified seeds from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal, with preserved anatomical details including in situ pollen. The morphological diversity and phylogenetic history of the Gnetales will be investigated, using data from these fossils as well as molecular and morphological data from recent species.
Currently, we study the fossils from China and their relationships to extant Gnetales. The material includes fossils that are closely related to Ephedra, but also some specimens possibly related to Gnetum, which is rare and interesting.
Collaborators: Shunqing Wu, Peiji Chen, Else-Marie Friis
