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When did flowering plants first appear in the Cretaceous fossil record?

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Cretaceous paleogeography — Cretaceous Period Distribution of landmasses, mountainous regions, shallow seas, and deep ocean basins during the late Cretaceous Period. Included in the paleogeographic reconstruction are the locations of the interval's subduction zones.

Flowering plants, or angiosperms, first appeared in the Cretaceous Period fossil record during the Early Cretaceous Epoch, approximately 145 million to 100.5 million years ago.1

While some reports of angiosperm-like pollen exist in older, Jurassic-aged rocks, the first undisputed fossil evidence for flowering plants is found within the Cretaceous fossil record. Notable early discoveries include the aquatic plant Montsechia vidalii, which has been dated to roughly 130 million to 125 million years ago.231

Following their initial appearance, angiosperms underwent rapid diversification. They became common by the middle of the Cretaceous and rose to dominate the land flora by the mid-to-late Cretaceous period. This rise was marked by an increasing complexity in plant community structures and a significant coevolutionary relationship with insects and other animals, which aided in pollination and seed dispersal.314