1009 - Remnants of an Ancient Forest

The small, tree-like plants here, known as club mosses (Lycopodium), are older than the dinosaurs. Showing up around 410 million years ago, they were some of the first plants to evolve on Earth.

While they are commonly called club “mosses,” they are actually vascular plants. Vascular plants have a specialized system of tissues that transport fluids throughout the plant, which mosses don’t have.

Club mosses are known to form a symbiotic relationship with fungi in the soil around their roots. They exchange essential nutrients with each other, which helps both of them to grow and multiply. Club mosses can reproduce both through spores and by cloning themselves!