But Darwin was right

 

Credit: Thomas Schoch 

"L´abominable mystère des fleurs" (The Abominable Mystery of Flowers) is a French nature documentary. The title is apparently a reference to a statement by Charles Darwin, who considered the fast evolution of flowering plants to be a serious problem for his theory. It´s therefore somewhat piquant that one of the scientists featured is named Sarah Darwin. And yes, she really is a descendant of Charles Robert!

The docu takes us to a literally blooming desert in Namibia, an 800-year young (and very bizarre) Welwitschia plant (also in Namibia), the French Alps and assorted laboratories. On the main island of New Caledonia, the scientists pluck an Amborella, the only species left of the oldest flowering plant lineage in Earth history (or something to that effect).

The evolution of flowering plants was clearly stimulated by insect pollinators, and geographical isolation can speed up speciation. 

But somehow, we knew that already. More intriguing is the research done on the Welwitschia plant, which is a gymnosperm. Presumably, the flowering plants (angiosperms) must have evolved from gymnosperms. And indeed, the Welwitschia turns out to have a kind of pseudo-flowers which are genetically similar to the real thing! Is this an actual "transitional form" still around today?

It seems Charles Darwin was right, after all. Next week: Einstein right, too?