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Flowering Trees (Angiospermae)
The flowering plants (Angiosperms), also known as Angiospermae or
Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Together with
gymnosperms, they are the only extant groups of seed-producing plants,
but they can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of
derived characteristics. These characteristics include flowers, endosperm
within the seeds, and the production of fruits that contain the seeds.
The ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms around
245–202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants known to exist
are from 140 million years ago. They diversified enormously during the
Lower Cretaceous and became widespread around 100 million years ago,
but replaced conifers as the dominant trees only around 60-100 million
years ago.