About the book: 1961 / Billions of years ago, our Earth was a bare, lifeless planet. And then life appeared on its surface - those first, most primitive forms of living beings, the development of which led to the endless diversity of the nature around us. How did this development take place? How did animals and plants appear on Earth, how did they change? This book will answer some of these questions. Its author, the outstanding Soviet scientist Academician V.L. Komarov, described in it the history of the plant world of the Earth - from the simplest single-celled bacteria to modern highly developed flowering plants. The author depicts this long path of development in close connection with the general history of the Earth, with changes in its natural conditions, topography, and climate. The book is written popularly, is easy to read and will be of great benefit to the widest range of readers who have basic knowledge of the field of biology in the scope of a school course.