Paleobotany is the branch of plant sciences that investigates fossil plants and plant-related remains to reconstruct past floras, ecosystems, and environmental conditions through geological time. It integrates methods from stratigraphy, sedimentology, systematics, and morphology to analyze compression fossils, permineralizations, mummifications, palynomorphs, and phytoliths. Paleobotanists use comparative morphology and, where possible, phylogenetic frameworks to infer evolutionary relationships, diversification patterns, and major transitions in plant history, such as the origin of vascular tissues, seeds, and angiosperms. The discipline also provides quantitative and qualitative proxies for paleoclimate, paleoecology, and biogeographic reconstructions, informing models of Earth system evolution and long-term biosphere–geosphere interactions.
Approximately 145 million: That's the number of specimens—including plants, animals, minerals, and human artifacts—curators estimate are held in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. However, these estimates ...
Biotechnology
May 5, 2026
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Madagascar is home to seven species of baobab trees, of which six are found nowhere else on the planet. Many of the trees have been alive for well over 1,000 years. The ancient trees have become symbols of Madagascar itself. ...
Environment
Apr 20, 2026
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31
Earth responded to its most severe past warming event by evolving a new and bizarre type of photosynthesis that allowed a group of primitive plants to survive. Research led by the University of Leeds has revealed how lycophytes—a ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 20, 2026
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35
Forests were growing on the now-submerged landmass of Doggerland thousands of years earlier than previously believed, according to a major new sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) study led by the University of Warwick. The ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 11, 2026
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Many large herbivores that once roamed modern-day Panama have declined or died out—including the 6-meter-long giant ground sloth and elephant-related creatures called Cuvieronius. New research suggests that introducing large ...
Ecology
Mar 3, 2026
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233
UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor Thomas Algeo has been studying the planet's five major mass extinctions since the Ordovician Period, when global sea levels were much higher than today. In a paper published in Nature ...
Evolution
Mar 3, 2026
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63
New minuscule fossils of Purgatorius, the earliest-known relative of all primates—including humans—have been unearthed in a more southern region of North America than ever before, and the breakthrough is providing paleontologists ...
Evolution
Mar 3, 2026
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For over 20 million years, the landscape of Europe has been a tree-rich mosaic of grasslands, scrubs and more or less open woodlands with an abundance of wildflowers. This is the conclusion of a new and comprehensive study ...
Ecology
Mar 2, 2026
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1837
Prototaxites are something of a prehistoric mystery. They were the first giant organisms on land, towering over ancient landscapes at heights of up to 8 meters. They had smooth trunk-like pillars and no branches, leaves or ...
The tallest plants alive today can grow to over 100 meters tall. But they evolved from ancestors that were just a few centimeters high.
Evolution
Dec 18, 2025
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