The First Trees on Earth - Artist View - First Trees - Artist view -...

The First Trees on Earth - Artist View - First Trees - Artist view - 385 million years ago, in the upper Devonian, the first trees began to appear on Earth. In this illustration, the archaeopteris, considered the first tree, is present at different stages of its evolution, with on the left a young specimen of 6 metres, in the centre a tree twice as large, on the right, an even older specimen. At the extreme right, a strain of an old Archaeopteris collapse. 385 million years ago, near the end of the Devonian period, the first trees began to populate the Earth. Considered the first modern trees, the Archaeopteris were a part of the Earth's primitive forests for the next 25 million years. Unlike the trees we know today, Archaeopteris was in fact a primitive fern that reproduced by means of spores instead of seeds. While terrestrial plants had been around for 130 million years prior to Archaeopteris, this was the first plant to solve the biomechanical challenges of supporting and nurturing ever larger sizes, enabling these Archaeopteris to grow to heights of 70 feet and more, over twice the height of the Calamites. In this image, four stages of the life of the Archaeopteris are illustrated. On the far left nearest our vantage point is a young, 20 - foot Archaeopteris, and in the center at twice that height is a medium - aged Archaeopteris, and on the right is a fully mature specimen. Furthest right is the collapsed and decaying trunk of a mature tree, a contribution the biomassy that will eventually become the oil, coal and natural gas we exploit today