Else Marie Friis is Professor and Head of Department at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Her research interests include Cretaceous flowers and other reproductive structures with particular focus on the origin and early diversification of angiosperms and related seed plants.

Preface; 1. Introduction to angiosperms; 2. The nature of the angiosperm fossil record; 3. The environmental context of early angiosperm evolution; 4. Stratigraphic framework and key areas for Cretaceous angiosperms; 5. Angiosperms in context: extant and fossil seed plants; 6. Origin and age of angiosperms; 7. Phylogenetic framework and the assignment of fossils to extant groups; 8. Fossils near the base of the angiosperm tree; 9. Early fossil angiosperms of uncertain relationships; 10. Early fossils of eumagnoliids; 11. Fossils of monocots; 12. Fossils of eudicots: early diverging groups; 13. Fossils of core eudicots: basal lineages; 14. Fossils of core eudicots: rosids; 15. Early fossils of eudicots: asterids; 16. Patterns of structural diversification in angiosperm reproductive organs; 17. History and evolution of pollination in angiosperms; 18. History and evolution of dispersal in angiosperms; 19. Vegetational context of early angiosperm diversification; 20. The accumulation of angiosperm diversity; References; Index.