(1) Milkworth and liverwort starred the green slope.

(2) 'Spores of liverwort are very simple and called cryptospores, ' Dr Rubeinstein told the BBC.

(3) 'Spores of liverwort are very simple and called cryptospores,' Dr Rubeinstein told the BBC. 'The cryptospores that we describe are the earliest to date.'

(4) These are, however, even inserted at positions identical to those of corresponding fungal and liverwort intervening sequences.

(5) He added that the plants had already begun to diversify, indicating they must have colonised land earlier than liverwort cryptospores which had been previously found in other parts of the world.

(6) Prior to this discovery, the oldest known plants had been liverwort cryptospores found in Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic which were thought to date back around 462 million years.