Abstract
Plant resins, serving various essential ecological functions, have traditionally been associated with conifers and angiosperms. Previously, the oldest known resin was identified in the late Carboniferous. Here we reveal that substantial amounts of diterpenoid resins were already present on the surfaces of Middle Devonian land plants. These surface resins, preserved alongside plant cuticles, are rich in nonvolatile tetracyclic diterpenoids and likely played a crucial role in facilitating terrestrial colonization by forming an antitranspirant barrier on the surfaces of early herbaceous plants. These findings not only markedly push back the timeline for the emergence of the earliest resin-producing plants, but also provide valuable insights into the adaptive strategies of early terrestrial flora. Moreover, our results suggest an evolutionary transition from surface to internal resins, revealing a more complex history of resin biosynthesis than previously recognized.
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Data availability
The supplementary datasets supporting the findings of this study are available in the Figshare repository (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30870452). The deposited data include (i) quantitative measurements of cuticle thickness and corresponding surface resin film thickness, and (ii) quantitative data for organic compounds identified in the saturated and maltene fractions of purified cuticle extracts. These datasets provide the source data for the figures and analyses presented in this article.
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Acknowledgement
We thank D.A. Zinniker for providing detailed comments on the proposed biomarker structures and their stereochemistry. We are especially grateful to the late B.R.T. Simoneit for his valuable suggestions, contributions to manuscript preparation, and assistance in the identification of tetracyclic diterpenoids. We also sincerely thank S. R. Larter for his thoughtful review and constructive feedback on the initial version of the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 42073069 and 42273029). No specific permits were required for this study.
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Daofu Song conceived the study, conducted the investigation, provided research resources, and wrote the original draft. Tieguan Wang and Ningning Zhong reviewed and edited the manuscript. Honghe Xu contributed to manuscript drafting. Hao Wang, Zhengang Lu, Yue Liu, and Yun Wang contributed to data visualization and research resources.
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Communications Earth and Environment thanks Sargent Bray and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editors: Yiming Wang and Alireza Bahadori. A peer review file is available.
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Song, D., Wang, T., Zhong, N. et al. Abundant surface resins present on Middle Devonian land plants. Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-03161-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-03161-9
