Plants on oceanic islands can evolve insular syndromes such as secondary woodiness, a generalized trend found in island floras worldwide. This phenomenon occurs through evolution in situ. It is triggered by ecological and physiological stimuli that transform herbaceous annuals into woody perennials. However, well‐dated and informative fossils that could help track and frame the evolution of this syndrome are lacking. Remarkably, in Madeira Island (Portugal), there are good examples of Apiaceae that evolved secondary woodiness, like the giant neoendemic Melanoselinum (≡ Daucus). Apiaceae has a very scarce fossil record, despite being a cosmopolitan family and an economically important crop. Here we describe the oldest Daucus s.l. fossil known to date and the first fossil evidence of a plant with insular woodiness. The fossils are preserved as mummified/compressed mericarps within 1.3‐million‐year‐old fluvio‐lacustrine sediments of the Funchal unit, Upper Volcanic complex, near Porto da Cruz. We assign them to the extant neoendemic species Melanoselinum (≡ Daucus) decipiens. The mericarp morphology shows remarkable stasis since the Calabrian stage of the Early Pleistocene. Our results demonstrate that in the Madeiran Daucinae clade, insular woodiness developed at least 1.3 million years ago, indicating a coeval or earlier immigration to Madeira Island of a Daucus sp. Our results reinforce the role of palaeobotanical research in oceanic islands, supported by stratigraphy and geochronology studies, as a key element for the understanding of plant palaeobiogeography, ecology and evolution worldwide. We expect this contribution to shed light on the evolutionary origins of carrots, and related plant groups, an important element of human food, and to better comprehend the evolution of plant insular woodiness.

中文翻译：

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追踪马德拉岛（葡萄牙）早更新世的大型Daucus（sl）水果化石中的岛木质味

大洋岛屿上的植物会进化出岛屿综合症，例如次生木本植物，这是全世界岛屿植物群中普遍存在的趋势。这种现象是通过原位进化发生的。它是由生态和生理刺激触发的，这些刺激将草本年生植物转化为木质多年生植物。但是，缺乏可以帮助追踪和框定该综合症演变的良好且信息丰富的化石。引人注目的是，在马德拉岛（葡萄牙），有许多进化为继发性木质植物的伞形科，例如巨型新流行的黑色素（ose Daucus）。尽管是世界性大家庭和重要的经济作物，但pi科的化石记录却非常稀少。在这里我们描述最古老的陶卡斯迄今已知的sl化石，以及第一个化石为木质植物的化石证据。这些化石被保存为木乃伊/压缩的美洲驼，位于Porto da Cruz附近的上火山综合体丰沙尔单元的130万年前的河湖相沉积物中。我们将它们分配给现存neoendemic种Melanoselinum（≡胡萝卜）杜英。自早更新世的卡拉布里亚期以来，果皮形态显示出明显的停滞状态。我们的研究结果表明，在马德拉兰道西纳德进化枝中，至少在130万年前就出现了岛状木质，这表明它是同时期或更早移居到了Daucus的马德拉岛上的sp。我们的结果加强了地层植物学研究在大洋岛屿上的作用，得到地层学和年代学研究的支持，这是了解全球植物古生物地理学，生态学和进化的关键要素。我们希望这一贡献能够阐明胡萝卜以及相关植物群（人类食物的重要组成部分）的进化起源，并更好地理解植物岛本木本的进化。