Basal (phylogenetics)
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In phylogenetics, basal is the direction of the base of a rooted phylogenetic tree or cladogram. The term may be more strictly applied only to nodes adjacent to the root, or more loosely applied to no
Amborella trichopoda, the most basal extant angiosperm
Amborella
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Amborella is a monotypic genus of understory shrubs or small trees endemic to the main island, Grande Terre, of New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The genus is the only member of the family
Basal (phylogenetics)
…groups. However, there are cases where the unusually small size of a sister group does indeed correlate with an unusual number of ancestral traits, as in Amborella (see below). This is likely a source of the mis-use of the term. Other famous examples of this phenomenon are the oviparous reproduction and nipple-less…
Amborella trichopoda
Specimen in Berkeley, California
Young leaves
Buds and staminate (male) flowers