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Home / Teaching Documents, Lecture Notes and Tutorials / Teaching Documents about Palaeobotany / Early Land Plants

Museum of Paleontology (UCMP), University of California at Berkeley, Plantae, Fossil Record: Chart of First Appearances of Major Plant Groups. Each of the taxonomic plant groups in pink boxes can be clicked upon to take you to an introduction.

britannica.com: Evolution of land plants in the Ordovician through Middle Devonian periods. This page outlines the origin of land plants, with an emphasis on the vascular plants.

William Carromero, Botany Department, University of Georgia: Phylogeny of Early Land Plants. Center for Astrobiology, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA: PALEONTOLOGY (Winter 2001). Lecture notes. Go to: Lecture 12: Origin and Evolution of Land Plants.

Samuel J. Ciurca, Jr., Rochester, New York: Silurian Plants (under construction). Cooksonia.

C.J. Cleal and B.A. Thomas (page hosted by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee): Palaeozoic Palaeobotany of Great Britain. GCR VOLUME No. 9. Introduction. History of research on British plant fossils. List of sites (Silurian, Devonian, Lower Carboniferous, Upper Carboniferous, Permian). Scroll down to figure 1.3 and 1.4.

Thomas J. Herbert, Department of Biology, University of Miami: Plants onto land - The algae through the gymnosperms. Part of Biology 160 - Evolution and Biodiversity.

HowComYouCom.com: Education 2001, Leaving the Water.

Uwe Kaulfuß, Technische Universität, Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany: Geologisches Oberseminar 2000/2001, Charakterisierung der Eroberung des Festlandes als Habitat. In German (PDF-file).

Hans Kerp (photographs and graphics are by Hagen Hass and Hans Kerp), Palaeobotanical Research Group, Westfälische Wilhelms University, Münster: The Rhynie Chert and its Flora. A depiction of the silica permineralized fossil flora of Rhynie (Scotland), a 400 Million year old flora, which contains a wide diversity of taxa varying from unicellular fungi to the earliest anatomically preserved higher land plants and animal remains. Breathtaking thin section micro-photographs, e.g. in " V. The alternation of generations in early land plants": The male gametophyte with antheridia, the release of sperm from antheridium, etc.

Hans Kerp, Palaeobotanical Research Group, Westfälische Wilhelms University, Münster: A History of Palaeozoic Forests. An introductory text with many helpful links directly related to the history of Palaeozoic forests. 7 chapters provide information about: The earliest land plants; Towards a tree-like growth habit; The earliest forests; The Carboniferous coal swamp forests; The floral change at the end of the Westphalian; Stefanian and Rotliegend floras; Is there a floral break in the Permian?

! Palaeobotanical Research Group, Münster, Westfälische Wilhelms University, Münster, Germany: History of Palaeozoic Forests, SILURIAN PLANT FOSSILS. Link list page with rankings and brief explanations. Images of Silurian cryptospores and Parka decipiens. See also:
THE EARLIEST LIFE. Link list page with picture rankings. Images of precambrian microfossils and stromatolites. The links give the most direct connections to pictures available on the web; in many cases they are from sites that have additional palaeobotanical information. See also:
THE EARLIEST LAND PLANTS. Link list page with rankings and brief explanations. Images of Rhynia, Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii, Cooksonia, Cooksonia hemisphaerica, Baragwanathia, Cooksonia pertonii, Aglaophyton major, Lyonophyton rhynienensis, Horneophyton lignieri, Nothia aphylla, Crenaticaulis, Sawdonia, Sawdonia acanthotheca, Sawdonia ornata, Serrulacaulis furcatus, Rebuchia ovata, Zosterophyllum divaricatum, Zosterophyllum rhenanum, Psilophyton, Psilophyton crenulatum, Psilophyton dawsonii, Psilophyton dapsile, Psilophyton ornata, Pertica, Pertica quadrifaria, Asteroxylon, Asteroxylon mackiei. See also:
THE EARLY FORESTS AND THE PROGYMNOSPERMS. Images of Archaeopteris, Tetraxylopteris schmidtii, Callixylon, Archaeopteris gaspensis, Archaeopteris halliana, Archaeopteris hibernica. See also:
EARLIEST SEED PLANTS. Images of Moresnetia, Moresnetia zaleskyi, Elkinsia. Excellent!

Authored by the The Rhynie Chert Research Group, University of Aberdeen, with contributions and support by the Palaeobotanical Research Group, University of Münster, Germany, the Centre for Palynology, University of Sheffield, The Natural History Museum, London, and The Royal Museum, National Museums of Scotland: The Biota of Early Terrestrial Ecosystems, The Rhynie Chert. A resource site for students and teachers covering many aspects of the present knowledge of this unique geological deposit (including a glossary and bibliography pages). The website´s second part provides guidance for teachers in this subject area and as such will require a password to enter (obtainable from the authors).

SpaceDaily: NASA Scientists Propose New Theory of Earth's Early Evolution. The rise of oxygen.

Society of American Foresters, Bethesda, Maryland: A Tree That Changed the World. About Archaeopteris, from the June 1999 issue of "The Forestry Source". See also (by NewsWise): Earliest Modern Tree Lived 360-345 Million Years Ago.

Ralph E. Taggart, Department of Plant Biology, Department of Geological Sciences, Michigan State University: The First Vascular Land Plants.

Ben Waggoner, Department of Biology, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR: Eukaryota, I-caryota ...