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All of today's plants, from the humble mosses that cling to rocks to the giant redwoods that stretch to the sky, can trace their beginnings to the very first photosynthetic bacteria that appeared over 2 billion years ago. These cyanobacteria also oxygenated the atmosphere, helping give rise to all animals too. These bacteria became multicellular and early plants got their start in the ocean as ancient forms of algae and seaweed. They were very simple compared to the gymnosperms and angiosperms of today.

Recent evidence suggests that algal scum formed on land as far back as 1 billion years ago, and that some primitive forms of plants may have followed. If they did, they only began to diversify on land around 420 million years ago in the late Silurian period. They started off small, low-growing and had to remain close to bodies of water. They reproduced through spores. One example was Cooksonia.

Eventually they adapted to dry land and could grow larger and further away from the water until they came to dominate the land. Plants produced the first soil and helped harbor the early land animals that were also beginning to adapt to life out of the water. By the Late Devonian, forests of small, primitive plants existed. Most of these plants have true roots and leaves, and many were quite tall.

By the Carboniferous the first gymnosperms evolved and plants reach their peak of domination. The Earth was covered in vast, dense forests of ferns and cycads. Oxygen levels were much higher due to the arrival of these plants, which fueled the growth and development of the land animals.

The first flowering plants, or angiosperms, appeared in the late Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era and added bright colors to a mostly green world. The first grasses evolved from among the angiosperms in the middle of the Cenozoic era around 35 million years ago.

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12y ago
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12y ago

Probably photosynthetic multicellular protists, such as Rhodophyta and Chlorophyta.

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Scientist believe that plants evolved from Green Algae most likely from a green algae ancestor (Chlorophyta)

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11y ago

Its Green Alga

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ancient green algae

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Green algae.

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Charophytes

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Q: Land plants are believed to have evolved from?
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Related questions

From what is it believed land plants evolved?

Land plants are believed to have evolved from algae that came from oceans, to freshwater, to wet-dry coatlines, and developed into ferns/shrubs.


Where do scientists believe plants evolved?

They believed plants evolved from prehistoric times.


How are charophyceans and land plants?

Land plants evolved from Charophyceans. Charophyceans lived in the water and land plants dont.


What evolved in animals to leave unlimited access to plants on land?

Dinosaurs


How did the relative lack of water on land affect how plants evolved?

bob


How did adaptive radiation affect plants after they moved to land?

They evolved to fill the niches found on land.


What kind of plant was most likely the first land plant?

Since all known land plants have a vascular system, it is likely that the first land plant also had a vascular system. Researchers believe that there were two types of plants that may have been the first land plants. These are called rhynia and zosterophyllum.


How have land plants evolved to deal with desiccation?

also gas exchange and distribution of water?


What is the evidence that land plants evolved from green algae?

Many scientists believe that ancient green algae evolved into land plants. The chloroplasts present in green algae are the same as those of land plants. In addition, green algae have cell walls of similar composition to land plants; both store food, such as starch, in the same manner. Most green algae live in freshwater habitats with highly variable conditions. The ongoing changes in their environment have made them highly adaptable.what-evidence-has-led-scientists-to-believe-land-plants-evolved-from-green-algae


How long ago is it believed that life evolved into photpsynthesezing plants?

between 3.5 and 4 billion years ago


Scientists think that plants evolved directly from what kingdom?

Scientists believe that plants evolved directly from a freshwater green algae called charophyte. There are two different types of charophytes, coleochaetales and charales, which strongly resemble earliest land plants.


Scientists believe plant life moved from water to land and that plants evolved from multicellular?

green algea