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PLANTAE
Plant kingdom [Flora]

Event

Geologic Age

Millions of Years Ago

Earth History as a Calendar Year

Notes
First land plants

First fungi
Silurian Period
438 - 408 mya
November 26 - 28
Land plant adaptations
  • Waxy cuticle layer as waterproofing against desiccation
  • Roots to extract water and nutrients from soil
  • Structural support to grow toward sunlight
  • Vascular (transport) tissue to move water and nutrients from roots to top
  • Pollen grains to protect sperm cells and to use wind and animals to carry them to egg cells
  • Seeds to protect embryos until favorable germination conditions
  • Fruits to protect seeds and to allow their removal to more favorable growth sites
First insects
Devonian Period
408 - 360 mya
November 28 - December 2
First Gymnosperms (seed-bearing 
plants)



First flying insects
Carboniferous Period
360 - 286 mya
December 2 - 7
Characteristics
  • Male and female reproductive structures in cones
  • Seeds without outer layer
First Ginkgos

First Conifers

First Yews
Permian Period
Triassic Period
Jurassic Period
286 - 245 mya
245 - 208 mya
208 -144 mya
December 7 - 11


December 11 - 14


December 14 - 19
First Angiosperms
(flowering plants)
Cretaceous Period
144 -  65 mya
December 19 - 25
Characteristics
  • Male and female reproductive structures in flowers
  • Seeds with outer layer called fruit
First dry land grasses
Eocene Epoch
  57 -  34 mya
December 27 - 28
Small, simple flowers
Complex flowers  (Magnolias)
Flowers with fused petals
Deep, funnel-shaped flowers
Cretaceous
Cretaceous
Cretaceous
Paleocene Epoch

C. 100 mya
C.   75 mya
C.   65 mya
December 19 - 25
December 21
December 24
December 25
Simple nutlets
Nuts
Berries
Pods
Cretaceous
Cretaceous
Cretaceous
Paleocene Epoch

C.  75 mya
C.  70 mya
C.  65 mya
December 19 - 25
December 24
December 24
December 25
Pollinating beetles
Pollinating flies
Butterflies and moths
First bees
Cretaceous
Cretaceous
Cretaceous
Cretaceous


C. 130 mya
C. 100 mya
December 19 - 25
December 19 - 25
December 20
December 21

Divisions

BRYOPHYTA
​Mosses

GINKGOPHYTA
Ginkgo

Contains a single class

CONIFEROPHYTA
Conifers

  • Foliage: needle-, awl-, or scale-shaped
  • Reproductive structures: male and female cones
  • Female cones bear seeds

MAGNOLIOPHYTA
 Flowering Plants

  • Angiosperms
  • Most diverse group of land plants
  • Dominant form of terrestrial vegetation
Taxonomy source: 
USDA Plants Database, plants.usda.gov
Other sources: 
UConn Plant Database, www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/index.html
http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/selection.shtml