Wildlife
Flowering plants evolved during the time of the dinosaurs, and enlisted the help of animals to transfer their pollen from one plant to another. The fact that many flowers are brightly coloured or have strong scents is not to please human senses, but to attract the insects, birds or other animals that will help pollinate them. There are over a quarter of a million types of flowering plant.
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Plant growth
Timelapse can show how plants flower and grow.
Timelapse can show how plants flower and grow.
Catkins and flowers
Pollen grains fertilise the female parts of a plant to produce a seed.
Pollen grains fertilise the female parts of a plant to produce a seed.
One man's weeds
A Wallsend wasteground is more botanical wonderland than gardener's nightmare.
A Wallsend wasteground is more botanical wonderland than gardener's nightmare.
Undersea savannah
Eelgrass meadows provide shelter in the shallow coastal waters.
Eelgrass meadows provide shelter in the shallow coastal waters.
Yellow spring
In early spring, the floor of still leafless woodlands bursts into flower.
In early spring, the floor of still leafless woodlands bursts into flower.
Learn more about the other animals and plants that also form these fossils.
AmberThe flowering plants (angiosperms), also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants.[citation needed] Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies (derived characteristics). These characteristics include flowers, endosperm within the seeds, and the production of fruits that contain the seeds.
The ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms around 245–202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants known to exist are from 140 million years ago. They diversified enormously during the Lower Cretaceous and became widespread around 100 million years ago, but replaced conifers as the dominant trees only around 60–100 million years ago.
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Take a trip through the natural world with our themed collections of video clips from the natural history archive.
Timelapse photography: speeding up life
Some of the most memorable sequences in natural history result from timelapse photography, an astonishing filming technique that opens our eyes to a whole new world.
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