The Coral of Plants

Abstract

The present article has two primary objectives. First, the article provides a historical overview of graphical tools used in the past centuries for summarizing the classification and phylogeny of plants. It is emphasized that each published diagram focuses on only a single or a few aspects of the present and past of plant life on Earth. Therefore, these diagrams are less useful for communicating general knowledge in botanical research and education. Second, the article offers a solution by describing the principles and methods of constructing a lesser- known image type, the coral, whose potential usefulness in phylogenetics was first raised by Charles Darwin. Cladogram topology, phylogenetic classification and nomenclature, diversity of taxonomic groups, geological timescale, paleontological records, and other relevant information on the evolution of Archaeplastida are simultaneously condensed for the first time into the same figure – the Coral of Plants. This image is shown in two differently scaled parts to efficiently visualize as many details as possible, because the evolutionary timescale is much longer, and the extant diversity is much lower for red and green algae than for embryophytes. A fundamental property of coral diagrams, that is their self-similarity, allows for the redrawing of any part of the diagram at smaller scales.