Gigantopterid
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Gigantopterid is the name given to fossils of a group of plants existing 250 million years ago, which bore many of the traits of flowering plants, quite possibly having been a close relative, but are not proven to have flowered, themselves. Special chemical analysis techniques have produced evidence that this group of plants produced oleanane, a chemical otherwise only known to be used by flowering plants, for which it functions as a suppressant of insect pests.
Gigantopterid plants had simple, bilaterally symmetrical leaf structures, woody stems and spines. They grew new parts by producing shoots, like flowering plants.
Among the plant fossils given the name "gigantopterid" are some which may or may not actually be related; plant life from that era is very difficult to document and organize.
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