images

First plants - Artist view

by

Walter B. Myers/Novapix

Reference

t-glb91-02000

Date

2009-02-09

Species of Cooksonia caledonica, the only witness to a spectacular Late Silurian sunset, establish a tenuous foothold on a mound of ancient lava.
600 million years ago the Earth's oceans were teaming with life, however it wasn't until 200 million years later that the first plants emerged from the waters and made the Earth's surface their home. They were simple plants, standing only a few inches tall, consisting of slender stalks with branches and rounded structures called sporangia. The sporangia, common to funguses and non-seed plants, produced and contained the spores required for reproduction.