Was there a time when there were no plants on earth? According to the theories of science, the answer is yes. Then, hundreds of millions of years ago, tiny specks of protoplasm appeared on earth. Protoplasm is the name for the living material that is found in both plants and animals. These original specks of Protoplasm, according to the scientists, were the beginnings of all our plants and animals.

The protoplasm specks that became plants developed thick walls and settled down to
staying in one place. They also developed the green coloring matter known as chlorophyll which enabled them to make food from substances in the air, water, and soil.

These early green plants had only one cell, but later they formed groups of cells. Since they had no protection against drying out, they had to stay in the water. Today, some descendants of these original plants still survive, though they have changed quite a bit, of course. We call them algae. Seaweeds are an example of these plants.

One group of plants developed that obtained its food without the use of chlorophyll. These non-green plants are called the fungi, and they include bacteria, yeasts, molds, and mushrooms.

Most of the plants on earth today evolved from the algae. Certain of these came out of
the sea and developed rootlets that could anchor them in the soil. They also developed little leaves with an outer skin covering as protection against drying. These plants became mosses and ferns.

All of the earliest plants reproduced either by simple cell division (as in the case of bacteria and yeast) or by means of spores. Spores are little dust like cells something like seeds, but they contain no stored food in them as seeds do. As time went on, some of these plants developed flowers that produced true seeds. Now we are pretty far advanced in the development of plants. Two different types of plants with seeds appeared, those with naked seeds and those with protected seeds. Each of these two types later developed along many different lines. In this way, we have traced the plants existing on the earth today back to an original speck of protoplasm that appeared long, long ago. At least, this is the theory of modern botanical science.