The Origin of Land Plants: Some Answers, More Questions

Summary The discovery of new fossil plant remains, together with new interpretations of previously described forms, suggests that some ideas regarding the origin of land plants need to be modified. Some evidence suggests that perhaps plants with a bryophytic level of organization were on the land as early as the Ordovician. This suggestion is strengthened by a number of Devonian plants that lack tracheide despite possessing a suite of morphological features generally attributed to vascular plants. Such information necessitates that the current classification of early land plants be re‐examined, together with ideas about the origin and subsequent evolution of vascular plants and bryophytes.