What is Amborella trichopoda?
Q: What is Amborella trichopoda?
A: Amborella trichopoda is a small, evergreen shrub that occurs only in the moist, shaded understory of montane forests on the South Pacific island of New Caledonia.
Q: Why is Amborella of great interest to plant systematists?
A: Amborella is of great interest to plant systematists because molecular phylogenetic analyses put it at or near the base of the flowering plant lineage.
Q: How can the features of early flowering plants be inferred from Amborella?
A: Since Amborella is apparently basal among the flowering plants, the features of early flowering plants can be inferred by comparing derived traits shared by other angiosperms but not present in Amborella.
Q: What is the Amborellaceae?
A: The Amborellaceae are a line of flowering plants that diverged very early on (about 130 million years ago) from all the other living species of flowering plants.
Q: What is the relationship between Amborella and other flowering plants?
A: Among living flowering plants, Amborella is the sister group to all other flowering plants.
Q: How many species does the genus Amborella contain?
A: The genus Amborella contains only one species.
Q: Where does Amborella occur?
A: Amborella occurs only in the moist, shaded understory of montane forests on the South Pacific island of New Caledonia.
