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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

How the first trees grew so large

Remarkably well-preserved ancient trees show cellular anatomy from millions of years ago.
These fossils were discovered in summer 2012, and researchers worked for five years to unpick their significance.

These fossils were discovered in summer 2012, and researchers worked for five years to unpick their significance. H. Xu et al./Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA

Cladoxylopsida were the first large trees to appear on Earth, arising almost 400 million years ago in the Devonian period. But how their trunks grew to reach sizes of up to a metre across has been unclear.

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Nature 550, 433 (2017)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-017-04995-w

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