Amborellales

Amborellales is an order of flowering plants containing a single family, Amborellaceae, and a single living species, Amborella trichopoda, a shrub endemic to the rainforests of New Caledonia in the South Pacific. Molecular phylogenetic studies have repeatedly placed Amborellales as the earliest diverging lineage of all living flowering plants, making Amborella trichopoda a key reference species for understanding the ancestral traits of angiosperms. The plant produces small, cream colored flowers and red fruits, and unlike the great majority of flowering plants, it lacks vessel elements in its wood.