Evolution Garden

This area is designed to show how plants have evolved over millions of years.

 

Our focal point is a fossilised stump of one of the giant club mosses which flourished some 300 million years ago, in the Carboniferous period and which contributed – eventually – to the Coal Measures.

Blocks of coal have been added to show what such plants finally became. The fossil was found in the Chapeltown area by a party of railway navvies in 1875. In the early 1980s it was moved from High Hazels Park to the Botanical Gardens.

There is a remarkable collection of conifers  such as dawn redwood, giant redwood and golden larch.

  • Lycopod November 2019

  • Giant Redwood (Sequoidendron giganteum) February 2014

  • Ginkgo biloba January 2015 - Alison Hunter

  • Monkey Puzzle (Auracaria araucana) December 2021

  • View of fossilised tree stumps, November 2019

  • Wollemia nobilis December 2021

The garden demonstrates how different plants are related to each other and how plants are related to animals and fungi.  The layout of the garden takes you on a journey through time along a series of paths.  Each division of the path relates to a major development in the plant kingdom.

Interpretation boards show:

1)   Cells and nuclei – A eukaryote is an organism that has a cell nucleus.  The group contains all animals, plants, fungi and algae and appeared somewhere between 1.6 and 2.1 billion years ago.

2)  Photosynthesis – Around 1.5 billion years ago a eukaryote formed a symbiotic relationship with a bacterium containing chlorophyll, this resulted in an organism which could use sunlight for photosynthesis and produce its own food. 

3) Land Plants – Around 475 million years ago, plants began to produce new structures by fusing two cells together and uniting the genetic material from both. The variation of individuals enabled evolution to favour the development of plants suited to different environments.  This change allowed plants to colonise the land and is what differentiates the land plants from the green algae.

4) Vascular Plants – The next major change occurred around 410 million years ago and involved the development of structures that could transfer the water and nutrients around.  This is where the vascular plants (or plants with vessels) separated from the bryophytes (mosses and their relatives). The vascular plants, including ferns and club mosses, have a big advantage over non-vascular plants – the ability to grow tall.

5)  Seeds – Around 375 million years ago, some plants began to develop seeds,  Here you will find conifers, cycads and a ginkgo.

6) Flowers – Around 130-140 million years ago, the first angiosperms developed structures for the female parts of the ‘flower’.  Magnolias, water-lilies and some other early flowering plants, are described as primitive angiosperms.

7)  Monocots and Eudicots – It is thought that the monocotyledons (e.g. orchids, palms and grasses) and the true dicotyledons (eudicots) e.g. (daises and roses) split apart around 110 million years ago.