This is a garden tour over 65 million years in the making. Welcome, to Jurassic Walk…

Having watched one of my favorite films (of all time!) in 3D last week, you might say I’ve had dinosaurs on the brain. Thus, with the help of my friend, Mike Lamb, we set out to take you on a walking tour of the Dunedin Botanic Gardens, Dino-style! That’s right, we’re going on a trip back in time, exploring the incredible plants that lived along side the dinosaurs during the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. So print out the map, put on your walking shoes, and welcome to the Jurassic Walk.

Life finds a way…

Ginkgoes are old. You won’t find anything quite like them around today. They have deep roots, long stems, and distinctively flat fan-shaped leaves. The females also perfume themselves in the scent of rotting flesh, which may be part of why their family group is mostly extinct. Plant-eaters are going to try to eat them (cause they’re plants) and meat-eaters will too (with big pointy teeth!). Just kidding. The females do smell of rotting flesh though, and the only reason we see them still today is because of humans. In pleasant twist, this pre-dinosaurian plant has been kept alive because of its proximity to people. Sometime in our own ancient history, early people discovered that ginkgoes could be eaten, and carefully used in traditional medicines. The result was that while other ginkgo species were dying out, the ones we are most familiar with were being inadvertently preserved. A quick walk through a city will usually produce a ginkgo, just keep an eye out for their leaves, and you can easily be connected with this prehistoric plant group that saw the rise of the dinosaurs, during the early Triassic period.

Veggie-saurus, Lex, veggie-saurus…

As we move into the Jurassic, we’ll start with something distinctively Kiwi. Ferns were everywhere! And many of our favorite dinosaurs, like Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, and Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus), liked to eat them. In fact, it is probable that without ferns, the long-necked dinosaurs wouldn’t have survived. With teeth designed for raking, instead of chewing, dinosaurs like Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus, and Diplodocus were walking vacuums that flossed with ferns. Imagine the fern’s stem is your floss string. You can then imagine wedging that stem between your teeth, and pulling backwards so that all the leaves would come off in your mouth, like the waxy floss-coating. Instant mouthful, with no chewing required. Just swallow, and move on to the next branch. But our Jurassic story doesn’t end there.

Dinosaurs were big, but plants get bigger. It should be no surprise that the largest of the trees we have around today, first evolved when the largest dinosaurs ruled the earth. The Redwoods, found on the hillside of the Dunedin Gardens, first appeared in the Jurassic Period, alongside Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Dilophosaurus. Another ancient family, sequoias, redwoods, and puzzle trees stretched across the Jurassic landscape in massive forests, creating the shady niches of protection in which the large ferns survived. Growing to colossal heights, and armed with spiky needles, these forests were probably impenetrable to the largest adult dinosaurs.

Clever girl…

You may have noticed that there is one group of plants that I have yet talk about. Flowers. We see them everyday in our rose bushes, herb gardens, and orchards. Even the grass in our lawn, grows flowers. Yet during most of the dinosaur’s time, this entire group of plants did not exist. Imagine what the gardens would look like without flowers. Ginkgoes, ferns, conifers, and dirt. Fortunately for you and me, flowers appeared at the end of the Cretaceous, bringing with them the first bees and butterflies. Magnolia leaves have been found in rocks as old as Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus. Triceratops may have occasionally crunched through their woody stems, as well, though only modern dinosaurs, like tuis, waxeyes, and humming birds, enjoy them with us today.

Spared no expense…

As we arrive safe and sound right back in our own present day landscape, I hope you have enjoyed these ancient plants as much as Mike and I did. Feel free to upload your best dino-face, below, and I look forward to hearing about your adventures and discoveries. Just be considerate not go too far off the trails while roving the gardens, we all know what happened to Dennis Nedry.