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Introduction
Australia's Gondwanan Heritage Garden is an Evolution Garden
tracing the evolution of plants from the first photosynthetic
bacteria to the modern flowering plants. Emphasis is placed on
the Gondwanan component of the plant kingdom and in particular
the development of the distinctive Australian “Wet Tropics Flora”.
The Wet Tropics Area houses Australia's highest concentration of
plant Families and species, in an area comprising of less than
0.01% of Australia's total land mass. There are more than 3,500
named vascular plants including 65% of Australia's Fern species,
21% of Australia's cycad species, 37% of Australia's conifer
species and 30% of Australia's Orchid Species. It also contains
representatives of thirteen of the nineteen Primitive Flowering
Plant families found worldwide.
Start the trail at the interpretive shelter, learn how
the modern continents evolved, examine the fossil
record and trace the changes in plants from the
beginning to the present day. Then follow the Zones
and meet the survivors of this long journey.
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TETHYS
SEA
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Equator
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PERMIAN
TRIASSIC
280 million years ago
230 million years ago
Equator
Equator
JURASSIC
CRETACEOUS
181 million years ago
135 million years ago
NORTH
AMERICA
EUROPE
ASIA
INDIA
AFRICA
SOUTH
AMERICA
Equator
AUSTRALIA
ANTARCTICA
PRESENT DAY
!!
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australia’s
Gondwanan
garden
CAIRNS BOTANIC GARDENS
Collins Avenue, Edge Hill, Cairns
Gardens open 7:30am until 5:30pm each day, including
weekends and public holidays. Guided walks are available.
Check times and availability at the Visitors Centre
or call 4032 6650
Gifts and books are available at the Visitors Centre,
10:30am - 3:00pm daily except Public Holidays.
Admission is free; however we invite you to support
the Gardens with a donation.
For further information please contact the Botanic Gardens
Visitor Centre, Phone: 4032 6650
[email protected]
www.cairnsbotanicgardens.com.au
• Formation of Earth
• First single-celled
organisms in
the oceans
• First multi-celled
organisms in
the oceans
Devonian
Carboniferous
Permian
Triassic
Jurassic
600
500
425
405
345
280
230
181
• First land
plants
• Early marine
animal life
Zone 1. Photosynthesis begins
About 3,500 mya (million years ago) to the present.
Cyanobacteria (colonial bacteria) become some of the first
creatures to use chlorophyll to capture sunlight and convert
carbon dioxide and water into simple sugars, the building
blocks of modern plant life.
GOO
DWI
Zone 4. The Age of the Gymnosperms
(Naked Seed plants) “The Cycads”.
325 mya. Triassic to the end of the
Jurassic period.
Although seeds had evolved earlier the
change from spores to seeds in the
conifers and cycads represented a
major evolutionary event in plants.
• First Conifers
• First winged
insects &
reptiles
• Early
Dinosaurs
N ST
REET
ZONE 4
ZONE 6
MAIN ENTRANCE &
INTERPRETATION SHELTER
ZONE 3
RED & BLUE ARROW
WALKING TRACKS
ZONE 7
ZONE 1
ZONE 2
VISITOR
CENTRE
COLLINS AVENUE
•Dinosaurs
diversify
135
63
• First
flowering
plants
•Flowering
plants
dominate
1
• First •First
• Extinction
of dinosaurs grasses modern
humans
• First land
(Homo
mammals
& primates
sapiens)
Zone 5. The age of the
Gymnosperms (Naked Seed plants)
“The Conifers”
The evolution of both the Conifers
and the Cycads together represent
the age of the Gymnosperms with
the conifers appearing around 325
mya, just before the cycads.
ZONE 5
Zone 2. Plants move onto the land
420 mya. Late Silurian to Carboniferous.
Small simple celled Liverworts,
hornworts and mosses evolved from
marine algae. The first vascular plants,
the fork ferns, club mosses and tassel ferns developed from
these pioneers and together they colonised the land.
Zone 3. The Age of ferns
360 mya. Carboniferous period.
The first ferns appear and like all
plants of the time reproduce by spores.
The first seed plants, the seed ferns
also appear around this time but later
become extinct. Tree ferns similar to
those of today dominate the landscape
laying down the modern coal beds.
• First
amphibians
• First seed
bearing plants
• First Ferns
•Dinosaurs
dominate
•First
birds
Zone 7
Quarternary
Silurian
2500
Ordovician
3600
Zone 6
Zone 4&5
Cambrian
Precambrian
4600
Million Years Ago
Zone 3
Tertiary
Zone 2
(not to scale)
Cretaceous
Zone 1
Evolution Timeline
Zone 6. The Age of the Angiosperms
(Seed born in a vessel)
The Flowering Plants. 130 mya to
the present.
The development of flowers is
considered the most significant
event in the evolutionary history of
plants, giving us most of the plants
we know today and creating the
conditions responsible for the
massive diversification of insects,
birds and mammals as active
pollinators and seed dispersers.
Zone 7. Continental Collision
(The Age of Exchange)
15mya to the present.
Australia's 35 million years of
isolation ended 15 mya when the
continental plates of Asia and
Australia collided. Plants from both
continents mingled to create the
flora we know today.