“After finishing the first volume, I awaited the sequel with the same eagerness a nightingale reserves for summer. The second installment gave me a more complete understanding of the entire story. The book is captivating, its rigorous scholarly approach perfectly complemented by Drobyshevsky’s lively, at times subtly ironic, writing style. Even someone like me, who is no academic expert, can readily grasp the seemingly complex themes. The “plant stories” and “more precise explanations” woven throughout the text are particularly brilliant. For instance, the account of how plants were used in ancient times and the roles they played in human history is thoroughly engaging. All in all, Drobyshevsky is as outstanding as ever.” — Anna Vysotskina, Chief Editor of the Popular Science Literature Group

★ Winner of the FantLab Annual Book Award 2025—one of the most open and highly engaged literary awards on the Russian internet! (This prize has been presented annually since its establishment in 2007.)
★ A “plant’s-eye-view” script for our planet! With plants as the protagonists, it re‑tells the stories of evolution and civilization.
★ Biology + History + Anthropology! A masterwork by anthropologist Dr. Drobyshevsky, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University!
★ Volume I: Conquering the Land—How mosses, ferns, and conifers steadily took root on a barren Earth? From pioneering invaders to forest overlords, this is the plants’ version of “Genesis.”
★ Volume II: Forging Civilization—How grains, vegetables, fruits, and spices quietly shaped humanity’s tables, trade networks, and empires? Without them, human civilization as we know it would not exist.
★ After reading this series, you’ll never again overlook a single blade of grass by the roadside—because you’ll understand: they are, in fact, the true masters of this planet.

Ideal Readership:
- General readers interested in nature, evolution, and the origins of humankind;
- Readers fascinated by the deep interplay between plants and human history;
- Fans of interdisciplinary content (botany, anthropology, history, and culture);
- Those who wish to grasp Earth’s history from a fresh, plant‑centered perspective.

This series comprises two volumes:
*Mosses, Ferns, and Conifers—How Plants Conquered the Land*
*Grains, Vegetables, Fruits, and Spices—How Plants Forged Civilization*

If the Earth’s four-billion-year history of life were a book, humanity’s story would occupy only the final few pages—while plants are the true authors. Surprising, isn’t it? The real protagonist of this book is… plants. After all, it is they who have fashioned the air we breathe, the soil beneath our feet, and the climate on which our survival depends. For millions of years, our fate has been inextricably linked to the plant world. They have shaped the air we inhale, the ground we walk upon, and the climate that sustains us—but our understanding of plants remains shockingly limited.
We often treat plants as little more than the backdrop to Earth’s and humanity’s history. But what if we turned that perspective on its head? Anthropologist and science writer Stanislav Drobyshevsky proposes just such a radical shift in his work, one that will enable you to see the green world with entirely new eyes.
This book is an engaging investigation by an anthropologist, revealing how, over millions of years, our destiny has been inseparable from the plant kingdom. After reading it, you will never again overlook an ordinary blade of grass; you will remember that it—and its kin—are the planet’s true masters. Through these pages, you will examine the history of Earth and humankind from a wholly “plant‑centric” vantage point.

[Author] Stanislav Drobyshevsky A Russian anthropologist and popularizer of the scientific worldview. He holds a Ph.D. in biology and is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University. He serves as the science editor for “The Origins of Humanity,” a well-known Russian science‑popularization portal. He is one of Russia’s most popular science bloggers, with over 100,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. His bestselling popular science books include “The Missing Link,” “An Anthropologist’s Paleontology,” the “A Brief History of Plants” series, “Monsters of Eden,” and “The Origin of Humans.” He excels at presenting cutting‑edge science as gripping “detective stories,” using accessible and humorous language.

Introduction / 7

Algae—Not Plants (Precambrian) / 9

Algae—Plants (Cambrian) / 59

Mosses—Invincible Survivors (Ordovician, Silurian) / 83

Lycophytes, Equisetums, and Ferns—The Progressive Era of Coal (Devonian) / 97

Proto-Gymnosperms and Seed Ferns—The Dawn of Progress (Carboniferous) / 155

Gymnosperms—Coniferous Trees (Permian, Triassic) / 177

Angiosperms—Characteristics, Flowers, and Berries (Jurassic and Beyond) / 255

Angiosperms—Origins and Life Before Becoming Crops / 285

Appendix: Plant Taxonomy / 309

References / 323