Green evolution

The first plants are believed to have emerged in land masses approximately 430 million years ago during the Silurian. As yet still very simple in terms of structure, these early land plants were only a few centimetres tall. Since then, due to evolutionary pressures, their life forms have split up into the most diverse groups in terms of shape, size, functionality, etc., constantly changing as they did so. That is why we today have such a rich variety of plants, ranging from marine plankton to the grasses that grow in the world’s extensive steppe regions, and to trees, this planet’s largest living organisms.

The exhibition by the name of “History of the Evolution of Plants” features both their earliest and most primitive forms and their more advanced specimens – from the three-billion-year old original blue algae to the lavishly flowering specimens of today. It examines the structure of plant bodies while tracing the evolutionary improvements that have since occurred. These have enabled plants to colonize ever newer territories and to tolerate new environmental conditions.