There’s A Slight Discrepancy In The Gardening Article, Page 52…

May 3, 2011
1 min read
Tropical plants

Jeannie Asked

There’s a slight discrepancy in the gardening article, page 52 of the May issue, regarding selaginella. How can it be over 400 million years old when the world is not even that old?

The Gardener’s Answer

Hello, Jeannie: It is always nice to hear from our readers, so thank you for your response. As far as the age of the earth goes, there are certainly different opinions. According to John Mickel from the New York Botanical Garden, these fern allies “reached their greatest development during the carboniferous period.” Geologically speaking this is during the Paleozoic era, which is dated around 400 million years ago.

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