| P number: | P549463 |
|---|---|
| Caption: | Laurel from the Palaeogene. |
| Description: | By about 50 million years ago there were many plants that we would recognise as living today. More and more plants of modern aspect were evolving during the Palaeogene. In southern England and the Isle of Wight mangroves grew in the wet areas, and in the drier areas the plants included pines, laurel, raspberry and magnolia. Grass had not evolved at this time and the ground cover would have been small ferns. Laurel (or Laurus) is a genus of small flowering woody shrubs that evolved 60 Ma. The illustrated laural leaf from the Isle of Wight is some 50 million years old and illustrates the modern aspect of the flora. It is so perfectly preserved that the veins are clearly visible. The fossil was probably similar to leaves of today - leathery, shiny and containing aromatic oil. Laural is widespread today, in tropical, subtropical and Mediterranean regions. The Plant Kingdom comprises multicellular organisms which grow from an embryo, have cellulose in their cell walls and photosynthesise. This definition separates them from algae (members of Kingdom Protoctista, and from which plants evolved) and fungi (which are placed in the Kingdom Fungae). There are two major groups of plant. A vascular plant has special cells that allow water to pass through it. Non-vascular plants (like mosses, hornworts and liverworts), which are rarely fossilised and known mainly from their spores, lack these special cells. |
| Photographer: | Unknown |
| Copyright statement: | NERC |
| Orientation: | Landscape |
| Size: | 402.72 KB; 1000 x 563 pixels; 85 x 48 mm (print at 300 DPI); 265 x 149 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
| Average Rating: | Not yet rated |
| Categories: | Best of BGS Images/ Fossils |
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