The evolution of flowering plants

One of the great mysteries of the botanical world is how flowering plants managed to evolve and disperse across the globe so quickly.  Writing in 1879, Charles Darwin called it an "abominable mystery"  but now modern genetics could provide an answer to the puzzle.  Twenty years after he wrote the groundbreaking, "The Origin of Species"  setting out his ideas on biological evolution there still remains problems that he could not find an answer to.   The mystery of how flowers evolved and spread around the world in such a relatively short span of time concerned him because it challenged his theory of gradual evolution through natural selection.  Slowly modern studies are beginning to put the pieces of the jigsaw in place beginning to reveal the story of how flowering plants evolved.

Crab apple blossom - by Malus sylvestris - CC BY-SA 3.0

Darwin’s dilemma

All flowering plants belong to a group called angiosperms.  This is a large and diverse group with plants such as lilies, cereals, grasses and gardenias for example as well shrubs, grasses, herbaceous plants and many trees.  They differ from most other plants because they produce a flower which usually contains their seeds in some form.  Read more