DISCOVERY OF FOSSIL MONOCOTYLEDONS FROM YIXIAN FORMATION WESTERN LIAONING

This is the first reports of a few fossil monocotyledons, including Li aoxia chenii gen. et sp. now (belonging to Cyperaceae), Eragrosites ch angii gen. et sp. nov. (Gramineae) and a monocotyledonous leaf-shoot, obtained from the Late Jurassic Yixian Formation of western Liaoning P rovince, NE China. These fossils are the oldest known angiosperms in t he world. It may be inferred that the earliest angiosperms probably ap peared even earlier than the Late Jurassic.