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Making Eden : how plants transformed a barren planet / David Beerling.

by Beerling, D. J.

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Oxford University Press, 2019.

Plants -- Evolution.

9780198798309 (hc.)

xii, 257 p., 8 unnumbered pages of plates : col. ill.; 25 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

All flesh is grass -- Fifty shades of green -- Genomes decoded -- Ancient genes, new plants -- Gas valves -- Ancestral alliances -- Sculpting climate -- Eden under siege -- Simplified geologic timescale from the Cambrian -- Endnotes -- FIgure credits -- Plate credits -- Publisher's acknowledgments -- Index.

From the first tiny green scouts that clung to watery banks, plants spread across the land, opening their leaves to the sun, growing tall, turning the world green. How did plants accomplish this extraordinary feat? The author takes us through the story, from the first tentative steps of moss-like plants to the bold march of forests, the appearance of flowers adding a riot of colors, and the spread of grasses. It is a tale scientists are just coming to understand, but one this is clear: plants have not just painted the planet in luxuriant greenery, they have altered the workings of its climate and soils. We destroy them at our peril.

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