Cretaceous angiosperms

[StephanPickering@cs.com]

There is much accessible data available on the subject. First, one should start with E.M. Friis, W.G. Chaloner, P.R. Crane, eds., 1987, The origins of angiosperms and their biological consequences (Cambridge University Press).
Michael J. Donoghue (he has a website, with a list of publications) has done much work on the area, as has Sarah Matthews. James A. Doyle, a friend of M.J. Donoghue, and others, has also published extensively on angiosperm phylogeny, as has P.R. Crane. Although somewhat dated, R.A. Dahlgren & Kare Bremmer, 1985, had a good outline in their "Major clades of angiosperms" (Evolution 1:349-368). E.A. Zimmer et al., 1989, "Ribosomal RNA phylogenies and flowering plant evolution" (in B. Fernholm et al., eds., The hierarchy of life), pp. 205-214, again dated but of use. However, it is the work of J. Doyle and M. Donoghue I would use for any type of investigatory search. The late Cretaceous angiosperm taxa and the paleoecology of this period (specifically the K/T boundary)  is being energetically studied by Gary Upchurch, a former student of James Doyle.  This is an area of paleontology where the work of phylogenetic systematics has been especially fr!
ui!
!
tful (no pun intended), and heightens the awareness of the necessities of making bridges between dinosaur watchers and plant watchers, i.e., what the herbivorous dinosaurs (and other taxa)  were eating had ineluctably qualitative impact upon their morphogenesis (including locomotion, neck posture, mastication,  etc.). Contrary to so many films, e.g., the ceratopsians and tyrannosaurs were quite home in redwood forests (Phil Tippett, years ago, did some fine collaborative work with Doug Henderson for a short film "Prehistoric Beast" illustrating this), and there is much to be learned from paleobotanists, and may have preferred that milieu rather than grasslands (where the dromaeosaur packs ruled).
I hope this is helpful. Mahzel tov.