An Introduction to Palaeoflora

Dicksonia antarctica, tree-fern forest at Kells Bay Gardens, Kerry, Ireland. Kells Bay Gardens contains the largest tree-fern forest in the northern hemisphere, and provides a stunning window into what a Mesozoic woodland may have looked like. Photograph ©Julian Kiely. 

(NOTE: this page needs to be updated. I first wrote it years ago when I was younger and a lot more pretentious. I haven't read this in a while but I bet it'll make me cringe. I'll be updating it soon hopefully, so stay tuned!)

Palaeoflora is a blog about Palaeobotany and modern plants which I created to share my enthusiasm for this fascinating subject. I also created it to help educate people who are interested in palaeobotany and to provide an easily accessible source of information on extinct floras; as such, many of these posts will relate to the reconstruction of and speculations about the life appearance of extinct plants and palaeoenvironments. Whenever possible I will include photographs, diagrams and artwork to help breathe life into my articles, which will be looking at a diverse range of topics, such as plant evolution, colouration, phylogeny and morphology.

Ginkgo apodes reconstruction. This species of Ginkgo is based on the reproductive ovulate organs (the seeds) and associated Ginkgoites leaves. It is described from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China and displays heterophylly, a common feature in Ginkgoales were a single plant possesses different leaf shapes or forms. Based on Zheng and Zhou 2004. 'A new Mesozoic Ginkgo from western Liaoning, China and its evolutionary significance'.   ©Julian Kiely.

    I will also spend a lot of time looking at the potential for palaeobotany to be included within palaeoart. As a Palaeoartist myself I am often painfully aware of how difficult it is to find good information on palaeobotany and plants to add into your piece of artwork; often this results in very repetitive trends within palaeoart, where people fall back on the same old ‘typical’ prehistoric plants; often a combination of Ginkgoes, Conifers, Cycads (which almost always appear to be clones of Cycas revoluta) and ferns. However, this is by no means representative of the full diversity of plants which have existed throughout Earth’s history. Palaeoflora is an untapped treasure trove of ideas and species for use within palaeoart, which is often overshadowed by the often more enigmatic animals which inhabited the past.

Plants are beautiful, intriguing, fascinating and complex organisms, and I hope that with this blog I can open people’s eyes to how incredible they are.

Thank-you, and all the best,

Julian Kiely

Aristolochia cathcartii (left) and Aristolochia tricaudata (right) are just two species of flowering plant within Aristolochiaceae, a family of Piperales which had their origins during the Early Cretaceous. The Genus Aristolochia (Dutchman's pipe) is thought to have originated 104 - 122 Ma (million years ago). Left: taken at Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Cambridge. Right: taken at The National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, Dublin. Photographs ©Julian Kiely.