CERATOPHYLLACEAE (Hornwort Family)

Contributed by Alan E. Brant

One genus, 6 species, worldwide.

The Ceratophyllaceae have one of the longest fossil histories of any angiosperm family, with fossilized fruits from the Cretaceous period, about 115 million years ago (Dilcher, 1989), and extant species apparently present as long as 45 million years ago (Herendeen et al., 1990). Formerly, the group was considered to be among the most primitive of extant flowering plants, but recent molecular studies have discounted this hypothesis.