iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

For this #FossilFriday a section of the early #fern Diplolabis from the early Carboniferous showing beautifully preserved tissues 🌿⛏️ (proposed reconstruction from doi.org/10.1016/j.re...) #Paleobotany #botany

Section of a fossil fern axis with preserved tissues, showing the X shaped vascular tissues. The axis is a few in diameter. A reconstruction of the plant by Phillips and Galtier 2005 is shown in a corner

0176

Alexis Rastier 🌿 @alexisrastier.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

What an extraordinary journey to Münster (Germany) for the European Paleobotanical and Palynological Conference (EPPC) 🌿 I was honored to present my research at the Early Career Symposium on a new whole-plant reconstruction of a rhacophytalean fern from Bjørnøya.🇳🇴⚒️ #Paleobotany #Devonian #Fern #EPPC

1175

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Hydraulic function of medullary bundles in a tropical root climber New #AJB research by Sandrine Isnard, Damien Longepierre & Taylor Feild doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience #Melastomataceae @umramap.bsky.social

The root climber, Adelobotrys adscendens, from French Guyana, exhibits medullary bundles in addition to a regular vascular system.

0104

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Some other tools exist, based on the variation of wood anatomy and/or of carbon isotopes within individual growth-rings of fossil trees. You can find an example in our open access paper from 2014, looking at Permian high latitude trees : www.lyellcollection.org/doi/full/10.... Happy #fossilFriday!

Base of a fossil Permian trunk in the field

Thin-section of wood in one of the Permian trunks showing a growth ring boundary

0258

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Impresentable @kathdrib.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Publicamos este trabajo super lindo sobre unos helechos del Triásico de San Juan #Paleobotany #paleontology #PaleoSky #Botany www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

ilustración de la reconstrucción de la fronde, tiene la forma de la palma de la mano, con seis "dedos" pinnados, y abajo hay detalle de las pinnulas (las láminas pequeñitas) con los esporangios

085

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

PhytoKeys @phytokeys.pensoft.net · 27/08/2026

🌿 A new lycophyte species, Didiclis pseudobisulcata, has been described from northern Thailand and southwest China: doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.278.204624

012

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

A beautiful section in a stem of the seed plant Calamopitys embergeri, from the early Carboniferous of France 🌿⛏️ The section shows the central vascular tissues (wood etc., V) and the cortex (C). See alt-text for more details. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calamop... #FossilFriday #paleobotany

Section showing the vascular tissues (mostly wood), the cortex (C) with at the periphery bands of cells with thicker, and vascular bundles that were connected to the leaves (L)

0268

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

For #FossilFriday a video showing the use of photogrammetry for 3D reconstruction of fossiliferous outcrops. Here a Carboniferous rock with faint impressions of Calamites, an extinct relative of horsetails 🌿⛏️❄️💻 The objects are used to test for image distorsion. youtu.be/x91SQRGwK2k?... #paleobotany

youtu.be

Technique de photogrammétrie

YouTube video by CNRS en Occitanie Est

074

Alexis Rastier 🌿 @alexisrastier.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Following in the footsteps of pioneers like Nathorst, Antevs, and Schweitzer, we are setting out to explore the Late Devonian strata of Bear Island. Our goal: to uncover its unique endemic fossil flora and fauna from over 360 million years ago. 🌿🦴 #Paleobotany #Devonian #Svalbard #Bjørnøya

194

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

For absolutely no specific reason, here's a photo of the Jurassic fossil #forest at Curio Bay, New Zealand, for this week's #FossilFriday 🌲⛏️🦕 (More about Curio Bay: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curio_Bay) #paleobotany

Two parallel fossil logs (conifers) on a rock platform by the sea at low tide (photo from 2012)

15910

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Et plusieurs conférences dont une conférence-démo sur les plantes fossiles animée par ma collègue Gaëlle et moi le 17 octobre "Du fossile au paysage : reconstruire les forêts passées pour comprendre l’évolution des écosystèmes" 🌿🌲⛏️ Lien: echappeesinattendues.cnrs.fr/event/du-fos...

Aperçu de la page d'information. Deux personnes comparent un fossile à sa reconstruction en 3d sur un écran

052

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

🦕 🌿 Missed our Paleobotany Week? There's still more on @botany.one Getting to the Root of Roots 📖 botany.fyi/j7whbh #Palaeobotany #PlantScience

Cover Image: Psilophyton crenulatum emergences as seen in Figure 9C of Doran and Tomescu 2026 (CC BY)

053

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

UMR AMAP @umramap.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

#AMAP_HDR_Defense -Save the date- "Pollination systems, floral scent specificity, and overall floral trait diversity in natural orchid communities in Cameroon", 20th July, 2026, by Lydie Messado at 2:00 (Cameroon) at Faculté des Sciences, Yaoundé (Cameroon) umontpellier-fr.zoom.us/j/95431517499

031

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I'm happy to have been one of the consultants for #SurvivingEarth E5 "When the forests collapsed" 🌿⛏️ "Showing" plants only known from ~300 million year old fragmentary fossils while trying to stay as scientifically accurate as possible IS frustrating, but I think the result looks good #paleobotany

Carboniferous forest set with a mix of living plants that look like some Carboniferous species (eg, the tree ferns) & physical models of the bottom of the lycopsid tree trunks (image from Loud Minds)

Virtual lycopsid forest as seen in tbe episode (Image from Milk)

Screenshot of a view of the late Carboniferous swamp forest.

1265

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Alexander Lovegrove @alexlovegrove.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

A little attempt at a Triassic landscape in gouache. The two main trees are Voltzia heterophylla (L) and V. walchaeformis. Still researching these so forgive any inaccuracies! #palaeoart #palaeobotany #paleobotany

A Triassic forest scene featuring two large trees similar to modern Araucaria. In the undergrowth are younger trees and ferns and unusual herbaceous conifers. A Temnospondyl amphibian is hiding in a stream in the foreground.

1175

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

After a great week at the 62 Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation in Xishuangbanna 🇨🇳, I'm spending the weekend at the world famous Botanical Garden (XTBG) 🤩 Watch this thread today & tomorrow for some cool tropical #plant photos! 🌿🌲🌸 1/n #botany

Ficus tree in the fig collection section of the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden

1273

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

UMR AMAP @umramap.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

A great AMAP representation at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation in Xishuangbanna 🇨🇳 this week. 1/n: The workshop "Education and outreach initiatives for tropical biodiversity" co-organized by @arteanest.bsky.social 🌿🦋 🐒 #botany #ATBC2026 #conservation

A group of people holding proposals for outreach activities created during the meeting

174

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Journal of Experimental Botany @jxbotany.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

🕸️ DARWIN REVIEW 🕸️ Robil & Scarpella show that vein patterns are more diverse than commonly thought, and identification of vein precursor cells is arbitrary and inconsistent across species, thus challenging current understanding of vein patterns 🌿 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪

Fig. 5 (shortened, full legend in paper): Leaf and vein pattern evolution. (A–C) The body of the earliest known vascular plants was a series of leafless axes that repeatedly branched into two axes of equal size oriented in three dimensions. (D–G) Megaphylls may have evolved from axes that repeatedly branched into two axes of equal size oriented in three dimensions (D) by unequal branching that gave rise to a single dominant axis and several non-dominant axes (E), followed by branching of the non-dominant axes in two, as opposed to three, dimensions (F), and eventually by formation of tissue that filled the space between those non-dominant axes (G). (H, I) Microphylls may have evolved from either axis reduction (H) or vascularization of axis outgrowths (I). (J–M) The first megaphylls may have been leaves with very limited tissue growth near the base of single-vein branches (J).

04513

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Jasmin LaBotaniste @labotaniste.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

A sea of green. Equisetum fluviatile #botany #fern #Alps

0154

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek 🦕 Shoot apical meristem and vascular development of a late Paleozoic spermatophyte (Order Medullosales) by Portailler & Luthardt. #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/qr8r #Paleobotany #PlantEvolution #Botany

The unusual stem structure of medullosans shows that early seed plants experimented with diverse and sophisticated growth strategies, many of which have no direct modern equivalent.

053

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek 🦕 Comparative rhizotaxy of fossil and living isoetalean rhizomorphs reveals development through rootlet intercalation within a triangular lattice by Wyman and co-authors. #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/q76q @sandyheth.bsky.social #Paleobotany #PlantEvolution #Botany

Despite dramatic evolutionary changes in size and form, Isoetales have maintained a remarkably consistent root pattern, suggesting a shared developmental mechanism that challenges long-held assumptions about their structure.

054

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek 🦕 Earliest Jurassic plant assemblages from Sweden reveal a low-diversity ginkgoalean and cheirolepid flora dominating the post-extinction landscape by Quiroz-Cabascango and co-authors. #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/g992x3 #Paleobotany #PlantEvolution #Botany

A newly discovered Swedish fossil flora captures how plants rebounded after the end-Triassic mass extinction, revealing resilient early Jurassic ecosystems shaped by conifers, ferns, and wildfire-prone landscapes.

032

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek A new plant species from the Abo Formation, early Permian (Leonardian) of New Mexico, colonizer of disturbed habitats with implications regarding rarity in the fossil record by DiMichele and co-authors #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/q757 #Paleobotany #PlantEvolution #Botany

043

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek Reappraisal of Pseudobornia ursina Nathorst: Implications for the evolution and systematics of Paleozoic sphenophytes by Rastier and co-authors. #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/q76c @alexisrastier.bsky.social #Paleobotany #PlantEvolution #Botany

A re-examination of a key Devonian fossil clarifies the evolutionary position of early sphenophytes. The study reveals a mosaic of ancestral traits, showing how reproductive structures became more compact over time and shedding new light on the origins of modern horsetails.

142

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek We begin with the introduction to the Special Issue Milestones and trends: the role of the fossil record in reconstructing plant evolution by Mihai Tomescu and co-authors. #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/q75x #Paleobotany #PlantEvolution #Botany

Plant fossils are far more than remnants of extinct worlds. They are essential evidence for reconstructing the origins, diversification, and evolutionary innovations of land plants, revealing patterns and processes that cannot be inferred from living species alone.

052

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek Corsiniopsis kurtzii gen. et sp. nov., a new fertile marchantioid fossil from the Late Triassic of Argentina provides evidence of the evolutionary trends of fertile branches in the by Flores & Cariglino #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/q75z #Paleobotany #PlantEvolution #Botany

A newly described liverwort fossil from Argentina shows that key features of complex thalloid liverworts were already established over 200 million years ago, suggesting dry-adapted lineages diversified earlier than previously thought.

021

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek Vegetative and reproductive morphology of Othniophyton elongatum (MacGinitie) gen. et comb. nov., an extinct angiosperm of possible caryophyllalean affinity from the Eocene of Colorado and Utah, USA by Manchester and co-authors. 👉 doi.org/nx37 @floridamuseum.bsky.social

A re-examination of a 47-million-year-old fossil plant shows it does not belong to any modern family. The study highlights that some ancient angiosperms represent now-extinct lineages absent from today’s flora.

031

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek Palm phytoliths in subarctic Canada imply ice-free winters 48 million years ago during the late early Eocene by Siver and co-authors. #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/q752 #Paleobotany #PlantEvolution #Botany @iceageberto.bsky.social

Microscopic fossils show that palm trees grew in subarctic Canada ~48 million years ago. This evidence reveals a much warmer climate than today, with above-freezing winters despite prolonged darkness, offering new insights into past greenhouse conditions.

163

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek How do the principal megabiases in the fossil record affect the discovery of past bryophyte diversity? by Blanco-Moreno @candelabm.bsky.social and co-authors. #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/q754 #Paleobotany #PlantEvolution #Botany

An updated global analysis shows that the scarcity of bryophyte fossils reflects not only preservation, but also who studies them and where. The record is strongly shaped by socio-economic and geographic biases, influencing our understanding of early plant evolution.

053

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

UMR AMAP @umramap.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

#AMAP_HDR_Defense -Tomorrow- "Fonctionnement des écosystèmes face au feu : biodiversité, dynamiques et vulnérabilité par une approche intégrée multi-échelle" by Bérangère Leys, 24th June, 2026, at 2:00, at Amphithéâtre Malassis, Agropolis International, Montpellier amap.cirad.fr/fr/edit-even...

amap.cirad.fr

UMR AMAP - botAnique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des végétations

022

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

📣 It's out ! ✨32✨ great #paleobotany papers in this special issue of @annbot.bsky.social on fossil #plants 🌿⛏️ edited by Mihai Tomescu, @sandyheth.bsky.social, Brian Atkinson & myself. Thank you to all the authors & all the reviewers for their contributions! 📄 academic.oup.com/aob/issue

Cover of the special issue - with a section in a fern rhizome

02419

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Super excited to see Atlas of Botany in print!!! A pleasure to work with the wonderful team from DK and the @thebotanics.bsky.social I wrote the Ancient Biomes section covering some of my favourite stories about plant evolution from the last 500 million years! @instmolplantsci.bsky.social

Sandy Hetherington standing in a bookshop holding a book titled atlas of botany with red flowers on the cover

Open book on page "Coal Forest Evolve" - in front of the book are examples of Carboniferous fossils include fern leaves and leafy stems

015726

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

And the paper is now available online (open access) 🌿⛏️🎉 A new anatomically preserved species of Keraphyton (Iridopteridales) from the Upper Devonian of Australia | Palaeontologia Electronica doi.org/10.26879/1640 #paleobotany

doi.org

Devonian plant from Australia

A new anatomically preserved species of Keraphyton (Iridopteridales) from the Upper Devonian of Australia

03012

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Martin Bouda @boudalab.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Nobody: what is a tree, anyway? Us: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S... (Review out today, in which we ask whether xylem disconnection arising early in wood anatomy is convergent with disconnection seen across tall plants and whether tree evolution requires disconnection given periodic drought.)

Xylem architecture disconnection in cross sections of trunks of various tree-like plants, including trees, palms, tree-ferns, cladoxylopsids.

26926

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Dr Susannah Lydon @susieoftraken.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Palaeobotany on the radio at 9am! @christophermberry.bsky.social and Jenny McElwain talking about the Evolution of Forests on In Our Time on Radio 4. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand... #Paleobotany

bbc.co.uk

BBC Sounds - In Our Time - Available Episodes

Listen to the latest episodes of In Our Time on BBC Sounds.

2196

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Nicolas Gentis @nicolasgentis.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Très heureux de contribuer à mon échelle à ce beau journal ! Aujourd'hui on parle de #biogeographie et d'arbres fabuleux : les #Dipterocarapaceae Very happy to do my part to contribute to this wonderful news paper ! Today we talk about #biogeography and one of my favorite trees: #Dipterocarps

093

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Cytinus hypocistis is a Mediterranean parasitic #plant that spends most of its life inside the root tissue of its host, species of rock-roses (Cistus). But in spring it produces small stems that reach the surface and you can spot their bright yellow #flowers that are pollinated by ants 🐜 🌸 #botany

Photo of the ground underneath rock-roses showing a group of unopened yellow flowers (and some lichen)

Photo of the ground underneath rock-roses showing a group of unopened yellow flowers (and some grass and moss)

18615

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Beautiful #tree #ferns 🌿💚

Tree ferns growing high above some small local ferns

0102

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

The last paper from @thibault-durieux.bsky.social's PhD, discussing the architecture of Cladoxylon based on specimens from the early Carboniferous of France, is now published in @ijpsjournal.bsky.social 🌿⛏️ #paleobotany 📃 doi.org/10.1086/739852

A transverse section in a stem of Cladoxylon with preserved tissues from the early Carboniferous of France

03212

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Julianne Zelda Kiely 🌿Commissions open🌿 @palaeojules.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Happy #FossilFriday, So, some fun news: I won a Highly Commended Prize for this year's Marsh Palaeoart Award, run by the @palaeontosoc.bsky.social, for My submission 'Life Restorations of the Rhizotaxy and Growth Architecture of Oxroadia'! #paleoart #paleontology #paleobotany #botany

A photo of me looking hPpy standing next to my artwork.

A selfie of my smiling face next to my artwork

My artwork of Oxroadia, showing a sprawling plant taking up moat of the image, with various close ups and additional illustrations to the right.

1113518

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Dr Susannah Lydon @susieoftraken.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

A pslice of Psaronius for #FossilFriday and #FernFriday Psaronius is the permineralised 'trunk' of a Carboniferous tree fern, which was made up of a mantle of thousands of rootlets. This is a thin section made to be studied under the microscope. The slide is 25mm wide. 🌏⚒🌱🌿🌴🔬🧪

A thin section of a fragment of Psaronius - a fern with a 'trunk' made up of a mantle of rootlets. Lots of rounded polygonal light grey rootlets with dark margins, in a dark matrix.

15811

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Mario Coiro @lepidodendron.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

We have a new symposium at this year's European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference in Muenster, Germany: Plant Paleoart: Perspectives and promises", organised by @palaeojules.bsky.social and myself! Both scientists and artists are welcome to contribute! www.uni-muenster.de/GeoPalaeonto...

uni-muenster.de

Abstracts

0189

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

🧵 The Geopark includes the Best Type of fossils: Paleozoic plants 🌿⛏️ with Carboniferous & Permian compression/impressions, as well as some specimens with 3D preserved tissues #paleobotany #FossilFriday

Late Carboniferous fern foliage (Pecopteris)

Detail of a thin-section section in an early Carboniferous plant with preserved tissues showing a vascular bundle with well preserved cellular detail (Cladoxylon)

Spores of an early Carboniferous lycopsid (clubmoss) under the microscope

22610

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

📣 Abstract submission is now opened for the 12th European #Paleobotany and #Palynology Congress : www.uni-muenster.de/GeoPalaeonto... 🌿⛏️ Deadline is May 31. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about our symposium for early career researchers.

uni-muenster.de

Abstracts

11713

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Terres d’Hérault has just been recognized as a #UNESCO Global #Geopark. The park covers ~2000 km2, with beautiful landscapes representing 540 million years of geological history - and some great paleontological sites 🌿🐾🐊⛏️ 🌋 geoparc.herault.fr #paleobotany #paleontology #geosciences #FossilFriday

geoparc.herault.fr

Accueil

Géoparc Terres d'Hérault

13415

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

#FossilFriday reminder that there are very old fossil #plants with very well preserved cellular detail! This is a piece of wood from a tree that grew ~340 million years ago (early Carboniferous) in what is now France, prepared as thin-section & seen under the microscope 🔬 🌿⛏️ #paleobotany #botany

Transverse section of fossil wood showing files of polygonal to rounded conducting cells and 5 rays (the brown vertical "lines")

15113

Alexis Rastier 🌿 @alexisrastier.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

#Paleobotany For this #Fossilfriday, a preview of my research on 3D sandstone casts of lycopsids from Belgium’s Uppermost Famennian, using laser scanning at #eddylab, usually applied for vertebrates. Illustration by Stephen Greb.

010

Reposted by Alexis Rastier 🌿

Swapna Krishna @swapnakrishna.com · 07/04/2026

Earthset from Artemis II. I am overcome.

4862411550