Question

Describe the ancestors of the plant kingdom?

Answer 1

The earliest photosynthetic organisms on land would have resembled modern algae, cyanobacteria, and lichens, followed by the bryophytes (liverworts & mosses, which evolved from the charophyte group of green algae). Bryophytes are the seedless, nonvascular plants. The land plants evolved from a line of filamentous green algae that invaded land about 410 million years ago during the Silurian period of the Paleozoic era. Green algae are considered to be an ancestral to plants because they are able to reproduce chlorophyll a/b, and their cell walls are made of cellulose. Plants are said to have evolved from algae as they formed colonies on empty landmass. Plants such as the ferns, pteridophytes are said to be the common ancestors of today's vascular plants. The next evolution was the development of seed plants. The first seed plants were the gymnosperms like conifers, cycads, etc. These forests dominated the late Pleaozoic era. After that, the evolution presented trees with flowers and seeds that were protected in fruits.