'Alien' plants discovered on Earth

Scientists measure tree fossils

Trees are thought to have originated millions of years ago. Since then, scientific evidence of Earth's earliest plants has been extremely scarce.

Now, the discovery of an unprecedented group of tree fossils has opened a new window allowing scientists to go back in time to when the Earth's earliest forests began to grow.

According to a report in the journal Current Biology , a total of five tree fossils were found buried alive after an earthquake 350 million years ago in the area of ​​a quarry in what is now New Brunswick province (Canada).

Simulation of Sanfordiacaulis tree and its height relative to humans

Scientifically known as Sanfordiacaulis, the newly discovered plant species is named after Laurie Sanford, the owner of the quarry.

Sanfordiacaulis has an unusual shape, with mature trees reaching about 4.6 m in height and a tree ring diameter of about 5.5 m. Based on the most complete fossil of this tree, Sanfordiacaulis has more than 250 leaves surrounding the trunk, each leaf up to 1.7 m long.

Some newspapers have used the term "alien" tree to describe the unusualness of the strange tree species.

"Tree fossils are time capsules," CNN quoted team leader Professor Robert Gastaldo, a paleontologist and sedimentologist at Colby College (Maine, USA).

Fossils like Sanfordiacaulis are not only useful in helping people understand more about how life changed in the past, they also help scientists figure out the possible evolutionary direction of life on our planet.

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