Stomatal architecture-the number, form, and arrangement of specialized epidermal cells associated with stomatal guard cells-of 46 species of basal angiosperms representing all ANITA grade families and Chloranthaceae was investigated. Leaf clearings and cuticular preparations were examined with light microscopy, and a sample of 100 stomata from each specimen was coded for stomatal type and five other characters contributing to stomatal architecture. New stomatal types were defined, and many species were examined and illustrated for the first time. Character evolution was examined in light of the ANITA hypothesis using MacClade software. Analysis of character evolution, along with other evidence from this study and evidence from the literature on fossil angiosperms and other seed plant lineages, suggests that the ancestral condition of angiosperms can be described as anomo-stephanocytic, a system in which complexes lacking subdidiaries (anomocytic) intergrade with those having weakly differentiated subsidiaries arranged in a rosette (stephanocytic). From this ancestral condition, tangential divisions of contact cells led to the profusion of different types seen in early fossil angiosperms and Amborellaceae, Austrobaileyales, and derived Chloranthaceae, while the state in Nymphaeales is little modified. Formation of new, derived types by tangential division appears to be a recurrent theme in seed plant evolution.