Archaefructaceae is proposed as a new basal angiosperm family of herbaceous
aquatic plants. This family consists of the fossils Archaefructus liaoningensis
and A. sinensis sp. nov. Complete plants from roots to fertile shoots are known.
Their age is a minimum of 124.6 million years from the Yixian Formation,
Liaoning, China. They are a sister clade to all angiosperms when their characters
are included in a combined three-gene molecular and morphological analysis.
Reference: Ge Sun et al., (2002). Archaefructaceae, a New Basal Angiosperm Family. Science 296,899-904.
