This article will describe the implica- tions of the resulting wave on the palaeobotanical community at large. As a member of the Palaeontological Section of the latter group, I was keen to attend this gathering of approximately 900 at- tendees, for 4 days of talks, poster sessions, and informal meetings with current palaeobotanists. Gardens in St. Louis. Called cladograms, these branching diagrams are read left to right, to show increasing diversity and presumed evolutionary pathways for the taxa under consideration. Some random notes from these sessions follow.
Fungi are much more related to animals, than to higher plants.
Existing phylogenies of living plants may or may not be supported by cladistic analyses. While some older phylogenies are supported by the new techniques, it some cases new and unsuspected relationships are discovered. Native to New Caledonia in the Pacific,at present there is only one living specimen in the United States - at the Arboretum at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Legumes show highest diversity in the tropics of Africa and South America. Most North American legumes are derived from European origins.