Ancient Plants
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Palm Bamboo Agave Cactus Conifer1 Conifer2 Legume1 Legume2 Figs Trees1 Trees2 Trees3 Shrubs1 Shrubs2 Shrubs3 Natives
Palomar Arboretum Lecture: Ancient Plants
  
© W.P. Armstrong 19 February 2015    Go Back To Lecture Topics At Top Of:   Wayne's Word Home Page

Diorama of araucariad forest from 200 million years ago, when all the continents were united into the vast supercontinent Pangea. Whether any logs at Petrified Forest National Park came from trees such as these is unknown at this time. From all the thousands of petrified logs, one can only imagine the extent and diversity of this ancient forest of giant trees. Diorama on display at the Rainbow Forest Museum, Petrified Forest National Park.

In case you are wondering how far back in time is the Ordovician Period (470 million years ago), see the following geologic time scale that I created in html code. Hornworts are mentioned in red because they greatly resemble some of the earliest land plants, such as Horneophyton & Rhynia. Rhynia also has characteristics similar to Psilotum.

Era
Period
MYA
Cenozoic
Tertiary
Holocene Epoch: 1 January 2023: Day 8036 of 3rd Millennium AD
Wayne's Word Website Moved From Palomar College To Network Solutions
Cenozoic
Tertiary
5-6
10
25
50
64
 Silver Sword Alliance: Ancient Tarweed Reaches Hawaiian Islands
Santa Rosa Basalt & The Endemic Santa Rosa Brodiaea
Dominican Republic Amber (Miocene)   W. Indian Locust & Copal
Baltic Amber (Shores Of The Baltic Sea)
Avian Dinosaurs Survived K-T Mass Extinction
Mesozoic
Cretaceous
65
70
71
90
95
100
135
140
 K-T Boundary--Giant Asteroid Hit Earth: Mass Extinction Of Dinosaurs
Hell Creek Formation, Mont.: Ficus ceratops = Spinifructus antiquus
Sauropod Dinosaur Dung In India With Phytoliths!
Metasequoia Fossils Resembling Present-Day "Dawn Redwood"
Ancient Flowering Plants: Nymphaeales (Water Lilies) & Magnoliales
Ants  Oldest Ant Fossils (Evolved From Stinging Wasps 110-130 mya)
Araucariads & Southern Supercontinent Called Gondwanaland
Origin Of Flowering Plants: Darwin's "Abominable Mystery"
Mesozoic
Jurassic
145
160
180
 Santiago Peak Metavolcanics: Owens Peak
Jet: Carbonized Remains Of Ancient "Araucariad" Forests
Gingko: Ancient Gymnosperm   Plants Of Jurassic Park
Mesozoic
Triassic
200
225
245
 Pangea: A Giant Supercontinent   Continental Drift (Plate Tectonics)
Petrified Forest NP: Once At Latitude Of Cen. Amer.  Taxonomy Issue
Osmunda Fern Fossils Resembling Present-Day Species In Canada
Paleozoic
Permian
250
 Cycads & Conifers Flourish
Paleozoic
Carboniferous:
Pennsylvanian
Mississippian
300
 300-360: Dominant Ferns, Horsetails, Club Mosses (Lycopds), Scale
Trees (cf. Sigillaria), Primitive Gymnosperms, Early Cycads, etc. Time
Of Extensivive Swamp Forests & Massive Coal Formation.
Paleozoic
Devonian
400
 Rhynie Chert, Scotland: Horneophyton & Rhynia--Earliest Land Plants
(Primitive, Leafless, Spore-Bearing Plants). Very Similar In Appearance
To Present-Day Hornworts (Division Anthocerotophyta: Anthoceros)
Paleozoic
Silurian
430
 Marine Algae Dominant; First Known Land Plants
Paleozoic
Ordovician
470
 Liverworts Spores of Ancient Liverworts In Argentina. They evolved
from charophycean green algae. See Genus Chara in Ash Meadows.
Paleozoic
Cambrian
500
 Algae & Invertebrates In Seas: Trilobites Dominant
Archeocyathida: Ancient, Extinct Reef Builders
Proterozoic
Precambrian
600
 Ediacaran Biota in Shallow Seas: Precursors Of Lichens?
Archean
Precambrian
3500
 Cyanobacteria (Formerly Called Blue-Green Algae) Stromatolites