The origin and early evolution of plants on land

Kenrick, Paul
Crane, Peter R.

Paul Kenrick is at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, S-10405, Stockholm, Sweden; Peter R. Crane is at The Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605, and the Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, USA.

Nature 389(6646):p 33-39, September 4, 1997.

The origin and early evolution of land plants in the mid-Palaeozoic era, between about 480 and 360 million years ago, was an important event in the history of life, with far-reaching consequences for the evolution of terrestrial organisms and global environments. A recent surge of interest, catalysed by palaeobotanical discoveries and advances in the systematics of living plants, provides a revised perspective on the evolution of early land plants and suggests new directions for future research.