Class Round 1: Eudicots vs Amborellales
Eudicots vs Amborellales
Eudicots
Amborellales
75% of all flowering plant species vs 1 flowering plant species
Eudicots (“true dicots”): This is a ginormous class, containing almost all leafy trees, quite a lot of plants that humans get food from (including potatoes and all of the legumes), and the plants we get tea, coffee, and chocolate from. It also contains carnivorous plants, parasitic plants, and some very poisonous plants, as well as tobacco and cannabis.
Amborellales: like Ginkgophyta in the phylum round, this taxon contains only one species, Amborella trichopoda. It was the earliest to diverge from all other flowering plants, and remains on only one island in the Pacific Ocean. It has some characteristics that are different from other flowering plants, such as xylem with no vessel elements. It has whitish flowers and small red fruit.
