When plants 'think' alike
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - 14:28
in Biology & Nature
Both lignin and cellulose are found in the rigid cell walls of the xylem cells (those that conduct water) in the primitive plant, Selaginella. Biologists have discovered that a fundamental building block in the cells of flowering plants evolved independently, yet almost identically, on a separate branch of the evolutionary tree--in an ancient plant group called lycophytes that originated at least 420 million years ago.