| | Mosses and fungi probably appeared about 400 million years ago. By about 200 million years ago, the earth sprouted sweeping forests of giant cycads, conifer trees, huge horsetails, and ferns. But the first flowering plants did not appear until the dinosaurs, sometime in the middle of the Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago. Before this, most of the trees had been gymnosperms, or plants with cones. Magnolias are among the oldest of all flowering plants, appearing about this time, along with orchids. With flowers came many insects, including butterflies, ants, termites, and bees. The flowering plants provided food for these insects, who spread the pollen from flower to flower to produce the seeds that would keep the flowers reproducing. |