If you’ve ever spotted a flat, green mat growing in a shaded, damp concrete crack or an old flowerpot, you may have encountered this non-vascular, non-flowering plant. The most recent common ancestor between Marchantia and familiar garden plants existed over 450 million years ago. This vast evolutionary distance makes Marchantia a great resource for scientists uncovering secrets about plant development, adaptation, and interactions with microbes. Every process it shares with flowering plants is likely ancient and essential, while its unique traits offer inspiration for improving crops and understanding plant resilience. Marchantia’s simple structure, ease of growth, and suitability for genetic studies make it a powerful model organism that has really grown on plant scientists.
