Preliminary DNA data say it's the oldest thing in that group,' says Zimmer. It's quite different on other levels as well. Essentially, just about everything about the plant is primitive,' says Schatz. One striking characteristic is the absence of water-conducting cells in its wood. Almost all flowering plants today have these so-called vessel elements.
Vessels enable plants to cope with drought.
Before such vessels appeared, plants would have been restricted to moist areas, like the wet understory of the rain forest. The rediscovery of Takhtajania is expected to help researchers understand how a group of organisms made a major leap into a new evolutionary mode a leap that allowed another group to blossom, the mammals. It's really exciting,' says Zimmer. The origin and early diversification of angiosperms.