The number of the Dicotyledonous Angiosperms is the most striking feature in so ancient a flora.
"The Student's Elements of Geology"
Sir Charles Lyell
The Angiosperms seem, therefore, to have been at the least comparatively rare in these older secondary periods, when more space was occupied by the Cycads and Conifers.
"The Student's Elements of Geology"
Sir Charles Lyell
Even the relative rank of the two chief divisions of the Angiosperms, the monocotyledons and dicotyledons, is a matter of question, as also which family in each of these divisions is to be considered the most perfect.
"A Mechanico-Physiological Theory of Organic Evolution"
Carl Von Nägeli