WALES is renowned for its green landscapes, lush with vegetation nurtured by the moist winds from the Atlantic, but it has not always been so.

John Serrao , during the Carboniferous Period, or "Coal Age," the small evergreen plants known today as club mosses grew as much as 100 feet tall.

The Carboniferous and Permian periods (358 -- 272 million years ago) were critical intervals in the evolution of life on land. ... such as horsetails and club mosses.

Toward the end of the Carboniferous period, around 307m years ago, the planet’s environment shifted dramatically, and its vast tropical rainforests vanished. ... such as horsetails and club mosses.