Plant evolutionPlant evolution
• Proterozoic – Green algal evolution• Mid paleozoic – First land plants• Late paleozoic – Coal forests: early vascular
plants• Latest paleozoic – seed plants, early
Gymnosperms• Mesozoic – Gymnosperms (and reptiles) dominant• Late mesozoic – first flowering plants• Cenozoic – coevolution of flowering plants and
insect pollinators
Ancestral GreenAlgae Bryophytes Ferns & allies Gymnosperms Angiosperms
Embryos
Vascular tissue
Seeds
Flowers
Overview Overview of Plant of Plant
EvolutionEvolution
Bryophyte-like Bryophyte-like plants evolved plants evolved
from from Charophycean Charophycean Green AlgaeGreen Algae
Chara
ColeochaeteA Coleochaete B Parka (Ordovician)From Berkeley Time Machine
Seedless Vascular PlantsSeedless Vascular Plants
• Vascular tissue improves sporophyte efficiency
• Dominant plants from late Devonian through early Permian* Equatorial coal forests
Imagine a dragonfly Imagine a dragonfly with a wingspan of with a wingspan of
over 1 meterover 1 meter
First seed plantsFirst seed plants
• Pregymnosperms• Early Permean• Pangea – dry, continental climates
Evolution of flower & fruitEvolution of flower & fruit
• First fossils: late Jurassic period of Mesozoic era
• Diversified during Cenozoic era
• Coevolution with pollinators