Early Permian multi-ovulate fruit rewrites angiosperm history

we report an angiosperm, Shuozhoufructella gen. nov., from the Lower Permian in Shanxi Province, China. Unlike contemporaneous gymnosperms, this fossil plant has multiple ovules of variable sizes and morphologies enclosed in a fruit. Micro-CT and other observations revealed that the ovules are fixed by funiculi along the periphery of the fruits. This arrangement of ovules has never been observed in any known gymnosperms but is frequently observed in angiosperms. This novel reproductive organ of a Permian plant demonstrates a wider-than-before morphological spectrum of seed plants in the Permian. Even after the stricter criterion of angiosperms, Shuozhoufructella is a representative of angiosperms in the Permian. Together with previous evidence, the origin time of angiosperms is now pushed to the Early Permian (295 Ma).