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I had no idea flowers evolved so late. The first flowers were 100 million years after the first dinosaurs!

The majority of flora we see now also evolved very late. The dinosaurs probably saw and fed on Conifers, Cycadophytes and Ferns. Grass and Modern leafed flora evolved much later.

You can see what forests might have looked like 100mm years ago by going to New Zealand, which split off from the Australian landmass about that long ago.

The native flora consists of a lot of ferns, and almost entirely evergreen plants. Flowers are uncommon and primitive, most plants are pollinated and spread by birds. The only native grasses are tussocks.

Head down to Curio Bay and see the remains of a forest from 180mya, too.

There are studies that suggests grass existed around 100 million years ago though, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16293759

Interesting. I will have to go down the rabbit hole again I think.. A lot of new and interesting stuff comes out of the Gondwana exiled regions, which is great!

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