University of Cambridge > Talks.cam > Plant Sciences Departmental Seminars > The Cambridge quest to solve Darwin’s abominable mystery

  Browse A-Z

Log in

Googledetails Microsoftdetails

🔐 Log In

Information on

Subscribing to talksdetails Finding a talkdetails Adding a talkdetails Disseminating talksdetails Help and Documentationdetails

ℹ️ Information

The Cambridge quest to solve Darwin’s abominable mystery

Download to your calendar using vCal

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Jake Harris .

Darwin’s “abominable mystery” was a major focus of research efforts in the Botany School at Cambridge University in the first half of the twentieth century. This involved a global quest for Jurassic angiosperms, to ameliorate the sudden appearance of diverse angiosperm fossils in the Cretaceous. Several times Jurassic angiosperms seemed to be found, most notably in the case of Caytonia, but the quest was ultimately declared unsuccessful. This lead to a re-assessment of the Cretaceous angiosperm flora in the 1960s, with the view that it represented ancestral groups. The Cambridge quest was effectively dropped at this time. In the past 30 years, as more complex Cretaceous angiosperm fossils have been found, the view that they are all ancestral has become untenable. Darwin’s “abominable mystery” remains unsolved but (as far as I am aware) the Cambridge quest has never been resumed.

This talk is part of the Plant Sciences Departmental Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.

Other lists

Potter Room / https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/87235967698 Room 606, Centre for Family Research, SPS, Free School Lane Boulind 8/9 Mary Allan Building, Faculty of Education, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8PQ

Other talks

Cambridge RNA Club - ONLINE title abstract tba Gastroenterology and Acute Medicine Talk title TBC Online Causal Inference Seminar Spectral rigidity of random covers of compact hyperbolic surfaces
 

© 2006-2025 Talks.cam, University of Cambridge. Contact Us | Help and Documentation | Privacy and Publicity