Plants dominate life on Earth, making up more than 80 percent of biomass as measured in gigatons of carbon. On land, plants today boast a wide range of complex shapes, from stout baobab trees to winding ivy, but they all evolved from a simpler past. Land plants trace their roots to aquatic algae that were limited to pretty much two options when it came to structure: stringy or flat. But somewhere along the way, these early plants learned to grow in a multitude of shapes to adapt to life outs