The origin and evolution of plants

1. Origin

The origin of plants is very ancient. Single-celled plants have existed on the earth a long time ago. According to the current classification, they are fungi and algae. At this time, the plant has only one cell with a very simple structure. It is a prokaryotic cell and cannot absorb sunlight to synthesize nutrients through photosynthesis. Its growth and life depend only on nutrients in the environment and it cannot produce nutrients on its own. Only then will it gradually evolve into an autotrophic plant, that is, cyanobacteria. They are relatively small, but they can synthesize nutrients and release O2 like real plants.

2. Evolutionary Process

The evolutionary process of plants can be basically divided into the fungus and algae era, the naked fern era, the fern era, the gymnosperm era, and the angiosperm era. At first, they were just tiny fungi and algae. As the environment changed, the surrounding nutrients could not meet their growth needs, so they began to gradually evolve into a complex form, leading to the existence of lichens, which are composed of algae and hyphae and are still lower plants. Later, it gradually evolved and turned into mosses. Later, ferns appeared, and as its functions increased, seed plants appeared.