These could be the oldest plant fossils ever found...
Tiny rice-grain-sized seaweed lived in shallow China seas a billion years ago...
Scientists have spotted in rocks from northern China what may be the oldest fossils of a green plant ever found, tiny seaweed that carpeted areas of the sea floor roughly a billion years ago and were part of a primordial revolution among life on Earth.
Researchers said Monday that the plant, called Proterocladus antiquus, was about the size of a rice grain and boasted numerous thin branches, thriving in shallow water while attached to the sea floor with a root-like structure.
It may seem small, but Proterocladus — a form of green algae — was one of the largest organisms of its time, sharing the seas mainly with bacteria and other microbes. It engaged in photosynthesis, transforming energy from sunlight into chemical energy and producing oxygen.
"Proterocladus antiquus is a close relative of the ancestor of all green plants alive today," said Qing Tang, a Virginia Tech post-doctoral researcher in paleobiology who detected the fossils in rock dug up in Liaoning Province near the city of Dalian and is lead author of the study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
more at link https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/oldest-green-plant-1.5289513
I love this stuff. A billion years! Now that's perspective!
