I have often discussed the problem of “early complexity,” and how as we peer back in time — whether in the geographic strata or by phylogenetic reconstruction — things don’t get simpler. This makes no sense in light of evolution and this week’s news of a specimen of a fossil tree from northwest China, revealing and ancient, and highly complex, just makes it worse.

As one of the authors admitted:

This raises a provoking question: why are the very oldest trees the most complicated?

Fortunately evolution is a fact.

Photo credit: Cardiff University.

Cross-posted at Darwin’s God.