Course Number:

Credit Hours:

4

Course Title:

Evolution of Vascular Plants

Course Description:

Covers the origin and evolution of land plants. The invasion of the land surface by plants, particularly vascular plants, occurred in the late Silurian and early Devonian time, approximately 405 million to 370 million years ago. The flora that covers planet Earth today is vastly different from the flora of those early geological days. Considers the early land plants; how they evolved into the complex land plant flora that we see today; the taxa that have survived unaltered until present day; how the seed-bearing plants develop; and the nature of the complex reproductive structure we call the flower.