When dinosaurs roamed the Earth, flowerless gymnosperms such as conifers dominated the land. What led to their decline, and why did flowering angiosperms come to rule in their place? PennySarchet delves into this botanical battle
is a tangled mass of shredded, fraying leaves in the Namib desert. For a thousand years, perhaps more, it grows just two long leaves, which creep continuously outwards for many metres, becoming torn and ragged. The plant is a lone survivor; fossils suggest, but all its close relatives are gone.
This evolutionary orphan is a gymnosperm – plants that produce seeds, but not true flowers or fruit. The most familiar today are conifers, a group that includes the longest living organisms on Earth, the bristlecone pines, and the coastal redwood, the world’s tallest trees. But gymnosperms also comprise gnetales , the palm-like cycads and ginkgo, also known as the maidenhair tree. When dinosaurs roamed Earth, they walked among the gymnosperms, which dominated the land.
What went wrong? Until recently, the tale has been that gymnosperms didn’t stand a chance against these beautiful newcomers. Flowers enabled angiosperms to use insects for pollination, boosting their reproductive success and spurring them on to global dominance. But the latest research reveals new twists in this ancient whodunnit. By better understanding why gymnosperms lost out, we may get some clues about their future, too.