Solaranthus

Solaranthus is an extinct genus of plants with contentious affinities which has been found fossilized in the Jiulongshan Formation of China. It dates to the middle Jurassic period.^[1] It was first named by Shaolin Zheng and Xin Wang in 2010 and the type species is Solaranthus daohugouensis.^[1]

Solaranthus Temporal range: Middle Jurassic PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	?Angiosperms
Genus:	Solaranthus Zheng & Wang, 2010
Species
S. daohugouensis Zheng & Wang, 2010 (type)

Some authors interpret Solaranthus as an unusual angiosperm, while others consider it a cycadalean^[2] or peltaspermalean pollen organ.^[3]

References

1. Shaolin Zheng; Xin Wang (2010). "An Undercover Angiosperm from the Jurassic of China". Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition. 84 (4): 895–902. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2010.00252.x. S2CID 84697587.
2. Deng, Shenghui; Hilton, Jason; Glasspool, Ian J.; Dejax, Jean (2014-11-17). "Pollen cones and associated leaves from the Lower Cretaceous of China and a re-evaluation of Mesozoic male cycad cones". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 12 (8): 1001–1023. doi:10.1080/14772019.2013.819817. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 85380782.
3. Coiro, Mario; Doyle, James A.; Hilton, Jason (2019). "How deep is the conflict between molecular and fossil evidence on the age of angiosperms?". New Phytologist. 223 (1): 83–99. doi:10.1111/nph.15708. ISSN 1469-8137. PMID 30681148.