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3. The Carboniferous Rainforests: A Green Revolution
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From 359 to 299 million years ago, the Carboniferous epoch represented a golden age for terrestrial plant life. Lush, tropical rainforests bursting with an amazing variety of plant species dominated large swaths of the earth during this period. Driven by towering tree-like plants long since extinct, these ancient woods were unlike anything we know today.
Often known as the scale tree, Lepidodendron was among the most famous species of the Carboniferous woodlands. With trunks two metres in diameter and heights of up to fifty metres, these giant plants may be Though they looked like trees, Lepidodendron were really more closely linked to contemporary club mosses. Their unusual scaled look came from diamond-shaped leaf scars covering their bark. Like their smaller modern cousins, these giants reproduced by spores, but on a far larger scale.
Relatives of current horsetails, the Calamites were another common genus of plants in these ancient woodlands. Rising up to thirty metres tall, these segmented plants created dense stands in the Carboniferous woodlands' marshy sections. Their hollow, bamboo-like stalks could quickly cover the ground thanks to a network of subterranean rhizomes.
First real ferns, which developed during the Carboniferous and rapidly expanded into a great range of varieties, also found home in these forests. These comprised both huge tree ferns vying with the scale trees for canopy dominance and ground-dwelling ferns. Smaller ferns abound in the rich understory of these woods, forming a multi-layered home for a wide range of species including early reptiles and amphibians.
