The Cretaceous Period (140 to 65 million years ago) marked the emergence of the flowering plants, which had a competitive advantage over the gymnosperms. The flowering plants, or "angiosperms" ("vessel seed"), are characterized by having seeds enclosed in an ovary, which appears as a fruit. The enclosed seed allowed the angiosperms to become the dominant form of plant life by the beginning of the Cenozoic Era (65 million years ago). One estimate says that over a quarter of a million species of flowering plants exist today.
In my next article, I'll be discussing what fossilized plant remains can tell us about what our Earth was like millions of years ago.
For more information about plants and paleobotany, see the May 1999 issue of Natural History--The Flower Issue, especially Karl Niklas's article "What's So Special About Flowers?".
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