Evolution of Plants- Lily Siegner

Cyanobacteria

3000 BCE

First plant fossils to ever be discovered. They were very, very basic structures that were more that likely formed with chemical and isotopic signatures in the rocks.

Chloroplasts

1600 BCE

Endosymbiotic relationship between cyanobacterium and the photosynthesizing prokaryotes. This is an early form of marine organisms.

Cambrian

590 BCE

Small and unicellular plant. This is a part of the green algae group, just a very simplified version of the plant. One of the very first plants.

Dasycladales

570 BCE

These were in the Cambrian flora time period. These plants were very early evolutions of calcareous green algae. They were fossilized and found to be near the middle of the Cambrian period.

Stromatolites

542 BCE

These came before some of the very first presences of cyanobacteria. They were from the fossil records before Precambrian.

Ordovician

485 BCE

One of the very first terrestrial plants, resembled liverworts. This plant did not have conducting tissues and was limited by its small size.

Silurian

443 BCE

One of the very first plants discovered from fossils to have vascular tissues. These plants has a very simple structure and did not have a lot of branching systems.

Embryophyta

440 BCE

These were made up of the bryophytes as well as many vascular plants. These were simple and often singular celled.

Devonian

416 BCE

Most of these plants had no vascular tissue and none of them had any root systems or leaves like the modern plants do. These plants would use a combination of sexual and vegetative reproduction to keep their species alive.

Carboniferous

355 BCE

These early plants did not evolve much from the Devonian flora, however they did add another group onto them which is what differs the two groups.

Permian

299 BCE

The Carboniferous was still around and flourishing when the Permian flora came in and started to evolve and take over. The change from the last plants to this evolution is that the other plants were replaced by advanced conifers that were more adapted to the often changing climate conditions.

Triassic

251 BCE

These plants were on land. Many of the early plants of this time period were lycophytes, cycads, Ginkgophyte, as well as glossopteris. They were conifers that were closer to the northern hemisphere and were able to dominate the southern hemisphere with the Dicroidium.

Cretaceous

144 BCE

These were some of the very first flowering plants on Earth. They are known as angiosperms and they spread during this time period. They did not become predominant until closer to the end of the period, however they were still a major break through.

Cenozoic

66 BCE

This is the time period that had a massive evolution for many different plant species. This period goes into present and modern day plants. Some things that evolved during this time were savannas being introduced, along with domestication of plants.

Viridiplantae

2005

A green algae plant has photosynthetic and eukaryotic plants. This plant was believed to have come from charophytes which are a simple and singular celled terrestrial algae.