1. Evolutionary History of
Plants

2. Land plants are said to have evolved from green algae. This is
because of the many common characteristics that land plants
share with the green algae called charophytes. Both have
rosette-shaped cellulose-synthesizing complexes, peroxisome
enzymes, flagellated sperm structure, and the formation of a
phragmoplast. The charophytes lived on the edges of ponds
and lakes in the shallow water, so when there were periods of
drying the charophytes that could survive would reproduce to
make more charophytes that were more and more accustomed
to the dry ground. These are the first land plants. Land plants
have four main adaptations that set them apart from their
green algae ancestors. These traits are the alternation of
generation and multicellular, dependent embryos, walled
spores produced in sporangia, multicellular gametangia, and
apical meristems. The oldest plant that has been unearthed so
far is from Oman, where plant spores were found embedded
in plant cuticle material that are 475-million-years-old.