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In Defense of Plants Podcast

Ep. 278 - Glossopteris: Resloving a Mystery 299 Million Years in the Making

In Defense of Plants Podcast

In Defense of Plants

Natural Sciences, Ecology, Nature, Plants, Botany, Science

4.81.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2020

⏱️ 63 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Glossopteris flora is one of the most important links that we have to the Permian Era. These trees dominated the supercontinent of Gondwana from around 299 to 230 million years ago and their fossilized remains have dazzled the human mind for centuries. Despite their popularity, Glossopteris mysteries abound. That is where scientists like Aviwe Matiwane come in. Aviwe is utilizing skills she picked up from modern day botany and applying them to the fossilized remains of Glossopteris to try and better understand their biodiversity. Along the way she is gaining insights into everything from biogeography to plant-insect interactions. You certainly do not want to miss this kind blowing conversation! This podcast was produced in part by Kate, German, Joerg, Alejandra, Cathy, Jordan, Judy, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Dana, Chloe, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Vaibhav, Kendall, Christina, Brett, Jocelyn, Kathleen, Ethan, Kaylee, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Donica, Chris, Shamora, Alana, Laura, Alice, Sarah, Rachel, Joanna, Griff, Philip, Paul, Matthew, Clark, Bobby, Kate, Steven, Brittney, McMansion Hell, Joey, Catherine, Brandon, Hall, Vegreville Creek and Wetlands Fund, Kevin, Oliver, John, Johansson, Christina, Jared, Hannah, Katy Pye, Brandon, Gwen, Carly, Stephen, Botanical Tours, Moonwort Studios, Liba, Mohsin Kazmi Takes Pictures, doeg, Clifton, Stephanie, Benjamin, Eli, Rachael, Plant By Design, Philip, Brent, Ron, Tim, Homestead Brooklyn, Brodie, Kevin, Sophia, Mark, Rens, Bendix, Irene, Holly, Caitlin, Manuel, Jennifer, Sara, and Margie.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Would you like more In Defensive Plants each month?

0:02.7

Well, you're in luck.

0:03.7

Indefensive Plants is now offering bonus mini episodes over at our Patreon page.

0:08.0

To find out how you can gain access to this bonus botanical content, head on over to patreon.com

0:13.1

slash Indefensive Plants and consider becoming a patron.

0:16.7

And as always, thank you for your continued support of Indefensive Plants.

0:20.3

Together we are helping cure plant blindness around the world one episode at a time.

0:26.5

Hello everyone and welcome to the Indefensible Plants podcast, the official podcast of

0:30.9

Indefensibleplants.com.

0:32.5

What's up?

0:32.8

This is your host, Matt.

0:33.6

Welcome to the show.

0:34.6

How's everyone doing this week?

0:36.4

Today, we're going way back in time

0:38.8

to the Permian, some 299 to around 230 million years ago. This is long before flowering

0:45.9

plants evolved. In fact, it wouldn't be another 100 million years or so before we saw any

0:50.0

evidence of flowers in the fossil record. And we're looking at a group of trees which would have

0:55.0

been extremely important on the continent of Gondwana, because remember, during this time

0:59.5

period, most of Earth's land masses were combined into a supercontinent status. We are, of course,

1:05.6

talking about the glossopterous flora. These were extremely important trees that were once

1:10.4

thought to be ferns,

1:11.2

but today are considered conifers. But as you're going to hear today, there's a ton of mystery

...

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