WASHINGTON : Flowering plants - from corn, wheat, rice and potatoes to maple, oak, apple and cherry trees as well as roses, tulips, daisies and dandelions and even the corpse flower and voodoo lily - are cornerstones of Earth's ecosystems and essential for humankind.
FILE PHOTO: A white-eye bird is seen on an early-flowering Ookanzakura cherry blossoms in full bloom at Ueno Park in Tokyo, Japan March 8, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People visit a sunflower field in Lopburi, Thailand, December 5, 2022. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File PhotoWASHINGTON : Flowering plants - from corn, wheat, rice and potatoes to maple, oak, apple and cherry trees as well as roses, tulips, daisies and dandelions and even the corpse flower and voodoo lily - are cornerstones of Earth's ecosystems and essential for humankind.
"It is a massive leap forward in our understanding of plant evolution," said botanist William Baker of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London, senior author of the research published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. "Angiosperms have many structural adaptations that confer advantages over gymnosperms, but chief among these are those contributing to reproductive success," Baker said.
In an 1879 letter to Joseph Hooker, RBG Kew's then-director, Darwin wrote that"the rapid development as far as we can judge of all the higher plants within recent geological times is an abominable mystery." "They are sources of many of our medicines and hold potential solutions to global challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, human health, food security and renewable energy," Baker said.
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