Life
Flowers arrive
Plants and insects strike a world-changing bargain
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The angiosperms — flowering plants — evolved the flower, the fruit and a far faster life cycle than conifers. Darwin called their sudden spread an "abominable mystery". Coevolution with pollinating insects drove an explosion of diversity on both sides. Today angiosperms make up roughly 90 per cent of all land plants, and our entire agriculture — grains, rice, fruit, legumes — rests on them.
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Some plants began making colourful flowers with sweet nectar. Insects came to drink and picked up pollen, which they carried to the next flower. The bargain worked so well that flowering plants are now nearly everything we eat.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org