Due to their long history of depiction in paleoart, magnolias are among the most recognizable flowering plants of the Cretaceous. While Magnolia itself appeared during the Late Cretaceous, its relative the tulip tree (Liriodendron) has an even older lineage. These large deciduous trees, known for their distinctive yellow flowers, now survive as a relict genus with one species in North America and another in China. In the Cretaceous, however, Liriodendron ranged widely across the northern supercontinent of Laurasia, only later disappearing from Europe during the Tertiary.

One of the most important and iconic fossil flowering plants is Archaeanthus. It bore large, showy flowers at the ends of leafy shoots, with helically arranged, distinctly lobed leaves often assigned to the form genera Liriophyllum or Liriodendrites. The floral structure shows similarities to both Liriodendron and magnolias, as well as more ancestral traits, and likely represents something close to the common ancestor of the magnolia family. Fossils suggest it grew as a deciduous tree in warm, humid floodplain environments during the Cretaceous.