New prehistoric plant discovery highlights the unexpected diversity of non-flowering plants

Holberg Inlet, along the north shore of Vancouver Island, is a rich site for Cretaceous flora. (Az Klymiuk), Author provided

The renowned Apple Bay fossil locality of northern Vancouver Island is helping us reimagine seed plant diversity in the Early Cretaceous, the last of three geologic periods comprising the Mesozoic Era.

Until recently, it was assumed that most major lineages of seed plants had been recognized in the fossil record. Their evolution and relationships to one another are still being debated, but few botanists believed that we might still be missing wide swathes of vascular plant diversity.