When did the earliest vascular plants appear in the fossil record?

The earliest evidence of vascular plants in the fossil record dates back to the Silurian Period (approximately 443.8 million to 419.2 million years ago). While some research using molecular clock methodology suggests that plants may have begun colonizing terrestrial environments as early as the Cambrian Period, the physical fossil record confirms their presence in Silurian rocks that are more than 400 million years old.123

Among the earliest and most successful of these plants was the genus Cooksonia, which featured small, leafless, and simply branched stems. Although some fossils previously attributed to the Silurian have been reclassified as Early Devonian, Late Silurian Cooksonia specimens from the Czech Republic are currently considered the earliest unquestionable evidence of vascular plants.14