Timeline of Plant Evolution

Timeline Of Plant Evolution

This article attempts to place key plant innovations in a geological context. It concerns itself only with novel adaptations and events that had a major ecological significance, not those that are of solely anthropological interest. The timeline displays a graphical representation of the adaptations; the text attempts to explain the nature and robustness of the evidence.

Life on Earth -4500 — – -4000 — – -3500 — – -3000 — – -2500 — – -2000 — – -1500 — – -1000 — – -500 — – 0 — Life Photosynthesis Eukaryotes Complex multicellular life Animals Land plants ← Formation
of Earth ← Meteorite bombardment ← Atmospheric oxygen ← Ediacara biota ← Cambrian explosion ← Modern-looking
humans Axis scale: millions of years ago.
Dates prior to 1000 million years ago are speculative.

Plant evolution is an aspect of the study of biological evolution, involving predominantly evolution of plants suited to live on land, greening of various land masses by the filling of their niches with land plants, and diversification of groups of land plants.