Flowering plants, which transformed Earth’s landscapes with their vibrant colors and scents, have been found to have appeared two million years earlier than previously believed. This discovery challenges long-held views on the timeline of plant evolution.
A team of researchers from Germany studied microscopic pollen grains preserved in ancient sedimentary rock from Portugal’s Lusitanian Basin.
These tiny grains, smaller than a human hair, belonged to a group of flowering plants called eudicots, which today include roses, sunflowers, and tomatoes.
The pollen was dated to about 123 million years ago, pushing back the known emergence of these plants by two million years compared to earlier estimates of 121 million years.
Eudicots represent the largest group of flowering plants, comprising nearly three-quarters of all angiosperms. Their earlier appearance suggests that flowering plants began diversifying and influencing ecosystems sooner than scientists thought.
This shift in timing is significant because it allowed more time for the evolution of new traits and the spread of flowering plants into diverse environments, including cooler mid-latitude regions rather than just tropical zones.
The researchers combined detailed pollen analysis with chemical dating of fossilized seashells found in the same sediment layers. This dual approach confirmed the age of the pollen and provided stronger evidence of when flowering plants first flourished.
This finding not only revises the timeline of flowering plant evolution but also hints that early flowers were more resilient and widespread than previously assumed.
They may have thrived in varied climates, adapting quickly to different ecosystems, which helped them become dominant plant forms on Earth.
The study highlights the importance of pollen as a key tool for understanding plant history and evolution. As tiny time capsules, pollen grains preserve vital clues about ancient plant life, enabling scientists to uncover new chapters in the story of Earth’s botanical past.
