The Austrobaileyales are considered an ancestral group of flowering plants. This group has carpels with an indistinct stigma, and each with a single seed. Star anise is the most commercially known plant from this group.
Above: Flower of Austrobaileya
Above: Flower of Illicium floridanum , purple star anise
No fossil record of the Austrobaileyaceae
Schisandraceae (including Illiciaceae) and Anacostia, known from the Early Cretaceous (Friis et al. 1997)
└Angiosperms
└Austrobaileyales (more detail)
├Austrobaileyaceae
├Schisandraceae
└Trimeniaceae