Conifers and the modern flora
Seed plants with needles and tough cuticles take over from the swamp trees, built for a drier world.
- When
- Known to
- ± 10 million years
- Era
- Permian, Paleozoic
Conifers, cycads and ginkgos diversify as the coal swamps give way to seasonally dry landscapes. Needle-like leaves, thick cuticles and deep roots let them survive drought that would kill a lycopsid, and their seeds tolerate desiccation. This is the flora that dominates the land until flowering plants appear 150 million years later, and conifers remain the largest trees on Earth today.