Chapter 27, Problem 4Q

Summary Introduction

To review:

The time and the geological period when the last common ancestor of embryophytes lived, and also the significant change in the life history that had occurred in this lineage.

Given:

Figure 1 shows the geological timescale of the origin of various embryophytes (land plants) including ferns and seed plants.

Figure 1: The geological timescale of the origin of various embryophytes.

Introduction:

Land plants are sometimes referred to as ‘Embryophytes’ because these plants develop from embryos protected by parental tissue. These plants generally arose from the aquatic green algal ancestor that is found linked with today’s stonewort.