Flora Origins?

Hi all.

I was eating my dinner with my family and around the table we always discuss interesting subjects. My five year old daughter pipes up and asks "where do seeds come from?"

I think about this and realize that it's another chicken and egg scenario...

I said it comes from plants and of course the response was... but where do plants come from...

And then I thought Hmmmm....

I mean I get the premise that perhaps a comet crashing into ancient earth could have brought the oceans to the earth along with organics that evolved into single cell organisms then into fish like creatures and so on...

but what about the plants?!?

Just how do we explain the diversity we now see today from the giant majestic Red Wood trees to the stinging nettles and everything in between...

What are your thoughts on this??

Korg.

reply to post by Korg Trinity


Animal (including human) and plants both have DNA and both types of DNA are made of the same nucleotides. The same chemicals that are in animals are in plants. The major ones are hydrogen, oxygen and carbon with some nitrogen and phosphorus thrown in. The difference is in how they are arranged. It's similar to the fact that both Franz Lizst's Anees de Pelerinage and Chopsticks are made up of the same musical notes. The arrangement of the notes makes all the difference.

Originally posted by F4guy
reply to post by Korg Trinity

 

Animal (including human) and plants both have DNA and both types of DNA are made of the same nucleotides. The same chemicals that are in animals are in plants. The major ones are hydrogen, oxygen and carbon with some nitrogen and phosphorus thrown in. The difference is in how they are arranged. It's similar to the fact that both Franz Lizst's Anees de Pelerinage and Chopsticks are made up of the same musical notes. The arrangement of the notes makes all the difference.

Joking aside... I accept what you are saying... but how... how did we get from water based to massive in land landscapes filled with flora... It's not like they could have walked like the triffids is it...

Korg.

Most likely plants started off in the seas. Over time they migrated inland and became larger. But this is just one theory. Some clever entities could have brought seeds down with them also.

reply to post by Korg Trinity


Wikipedia have a decent run down - -

Timeline of Plant Evolution - en.wikipedia.org...

Evolutionary History of Plants - en.wikipedia.org...

That explains the diversity.

As for origin, I think you are making the mistake of thinking they have a unique origin to animals. All life on Earth has a common ancestry. The last common ancestor of both plants and animals existed approximately 1.6 billion years ago - see scienceblogs.com...