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SUMMARY:The Cambridge quest to solve Darwin’s abominable mystery - Profe
 ssor Richard Buggs\, Queen Mary University London and Royal Botanic Garden
  Kews\, UK
DTSTART:20230504T111500Z
DTEND:20230504T124500Z
UID:TALK194713@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jake Harris
DESCRIPTION:Darwin’s “abominable mystery” was a major focus of resea
 rch efforts in the Botany School at Cambridge University in the first half
  of the twentieth century. This involved a global quest for Jurassic angio
 sperms\, 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 decl
 ared unsuccessful. This lead to a re-assessment of the Cretaceous angiospe
 rm 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\, t
 he view that they are all ancestral has become untenable. Darwin’s “ab
 ominable mystery” remains unsolved but (as far as I am aware) the Cambri
 dge quest has never been resumed.  
LOCATION:Online / Plant Sciences LLT for Department members only
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