The Earth was once a dark and stormy place, where everything alive was found in the ocean, cooking away in a big pot of primordial soup. Over time, early ancestors of plants and animals moved to la...

Plants haven't always extended across the land as they do now. All life started in the ocean, and like animals, plants had to move to land. Cyanobacteria, bacteria that can photosynthesize, were th...

Plant FossilsThe tricky thing about studying evolution is that so many things happened in the past, and in some cases so long ago, we just can't know everything. But one solid piece of evidence for...

Levels of OrganizationPlants and other living things are classified—not in the top secret, CIA-way that something can be classified, but because they are grouped with other closely related plants...

BryophytesAs mentioned earlier, bryophytes are a group of plants that are non-vascular and don't have seeds. If they don't have seeds, how do new plants grow? Instead of seeds, bryophytes have spor...

Seedless Vascular PlantsEventually, plants did begin to grow taller because they developed vascular systems. They did not have seeds therefore they are calledseedless vascular plants. It may not be...

GymnospermsGymnosperms were the first seed plants. They do not make flowers or fruits though, so their seeds are unprotected. This is how they got their name, which means "naked seed." Even as the...

AngiospermsAfter the evolution of seeds, the last big development in plant evolution was the arrival of flowers, which go hand in hand with the arrival of fruits. Angiosperms, or flowering plants,...

Plant DiversityPlants are very different in the various habitats around the world. How does evolution favor certain traits in specific regions?If you live in California and visit the Mediterranean,...

Plant PredecessorsIt is tempting to call algae plants because they do photosynthesize and are like plants in so many ways. Drill it in that noggin of yours right now: algae are not plants. Seaweeds...

Plant Predecessors Questions1. Which of the following is similar in structure between charophytes and land plants?(A) Roots(B) Leaves(C) Sperm (D) Eggs(E) Pollen2. Land plants are different than al...

How do so many different types of plants exist on Earth, and how do they contribute to different ecosystems? Explore Japan's mountains, Florida's wetlands, Mexico's rainforests, and the Canary Isla...