Trail of Plant Evolution

The Trail of Plant Evolution tells the story of how plants came to be the way they are today. The display includes living plants and fossil models accompanied by detailed interpretive signs, historic drawings, and other images. First developed in the 1980s, the exhibit has recently been updated to reflect changes in what scientists now understand about plant evolution. A variety of plants, from simple ground-hugging mosses to taller and more complex ferns, to even more evolved flowering plants, illustrate important points in the evolutionary history of plants.