Ginkgoales are a gymnosperm order containing only one extant species: Ginkgo biloba, the ginkgo tree. The order has a long fossil record extending back to the Early Permian around 300 million years ago from fossils found worldwide.
Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or female. Cycads vary in size from having trunks only a few centimeters to several meters tall. They typically grow very slowly and live very long. Because of their superficial resemblance, they are sometimes mistaken for palms or ferns, but they are not closely related to either group.
Palissya is an extinct form genus of female (ovule-bearing) conifer cones, known from the Late Triassic (Rhaetian) to the Early Cretaceous (Aptian). The cone of Palissya is noted for its unusual catkin-like construction: Slender bracts are rigidly attached in a helical pattern around a tall woody core. The adaxial (upper) surface of each bract bears two parallel rows of ovules which are encased in cup-like structures formed by scales. The seeds are thin-walled and were likely only viable for a short period of time, meaning that they were probably adapted to wind dispersal.
Williamsonia is a genus of plant belonging to Bennettitales, an extinct order of seed plants. Within the form classification system used in paleobotany, Williamsonia is used to refer to female seed cones, which are associated with plants that also bore the male flower-like reproductive structure Weltrichia.
Ceratodus is an extinct genus of lungfish. It has been described as a "catch all", and a "form genus" used to refer to the remains of a variety of lungfish belonging to the extinct family Ceratodontidae. Fossil evidence dates back to the Early Triassic. A wide range of fossil species from different time periods have been found around the world in places such as the United States, Argentina, Greenland, England, Germany, Egypt, Madagascar, China, and Australia. Ceratodus is believed to have become extinct sometime around the beginning of the Eocene Epoch.
Ginkgo is a genus of non-flowering seed plants. The scientific name is also used as the English name. The order to which it belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, 270 million years ago, and Ginkgo is now the only living genus within the order. The rate of evolution within the genus has been slow, and almost all its species had become extinct by the end of the Pliocene. The sole surviving species, Ginkgo biloba, is found in the wild only in China, but is cultivated around the world. The relationships between ginkgos and other groups of plants are not fully resolved.
Sagenopteris is a genus of extinct seed ferns from the Triassic to late Early Cretaceous.
Palaeontinidae, commonly known as giant cicadas, is an extinct family of cicadomorphs. They existed from the Late Triassic to the Early Cretaceous. The family contains around 30 to 40 genera and around a hundred species.
Ginkgo huttonii is an extinct Ginkgo species in the family Ginkgoaceae from the Jurassic of England. The fossil is also known by the name, Ginkgoites huttonii, the genus, Ginkgoites, referring to a group of extinct members of the Ginkgoaceae. G. huttonii was a broad-leaved, deciduous gymnosperm bearing resemblance to the only living member of the Ginkgoaceae, Ginkgo biloba.
Nilssonia is a genus of fossil foliage traditionally assigned to the Cycadophyta either in Cycadales or their own order Nilssoniales, though the relationships of this genus with the Cycadales have been put into question on chemical grounds.
Baieroxylon is an extinct prehistoric genus of plants belonging to the Ginkgoaceae family during the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods.
The Peltaspermales are an extinct order of seed plants, often considered "seed ferns". They span from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Jurassic. It includes at least one valid family, Peltaspermaceae, which spans from the Permian to Early Jurassic, which is typified by a group of plants with Lepidopteris leaves, Antevsia pollen-organs, and Peltaspermum ovulate organs, though the family now also includes other genera like Peltaspermopsis, Meyenopteris and Scytophyllum. Along with these, two informal groups of uncertain taxonomic affinities exist, each centered around a specific genus ; Supaia and Comia, known from the Early Permian of the Northern Hemisphere, especially of North America. Both the "Comioids" and the "Supaioids" are associated with the peltaspermacean ovulate organ Autunia. The Late Triassic-Middle Jurassic genus Pachydermophyllum may also have affinities to the peltasperms.
This article contains papers in paleobotany that were published in 2016.
Corystosperms are a group of extinct seed plants belonging to the family Corystospermaceae assigned to the order Corystospermales or Umkomasiales. They were first described based on fossils collected by Hamshaw Thomas from the Burnera Waterfall locality near the Umkomaas River of South Africa. Corystosperms are typified by a group of plants that bore forked Dicroidium leaves, Umkomasia cupulate ovulate structures and Pteruchus pollen organs, which grew as trees that were widespread over Gondwana during the Middle and Late Triassic. Other fossil Mesozoic seed plants with similar leaf and/or reproductive structures have also sometimes been included within the "corystosperm" concept sensu lato, such as the "doyleoids" from the Early Cretaceous of North America and Asia. A potential corystosperm sensu lato, the leaf genus Komlopteris, is known from the Eocene of Tasmania, around 53-50 million years old, over 10 million years after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
This article records new taxa of plants that are scheduled to be described during the year 2018, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleobotany that occurred in the year 2018.
Baiera is a genus of prehistoric gymnosperms in the order Ginkgoales. It is one of the oldest fossil foliage types of Ginkgoales, and is related to the genera Ginkgo and Ginkgoites. Fossils of Baiera are found worldwide, and have been known from the Permian to the Cretaceous.
This article records new taxa of plants that were described during the year 2014, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleobotany that occurred in the year 2014.
Ctenis is a genus of fossil foliage attributable to the Cycadales, being one of the most common genera of cycad fossil leaves in the Mesozoic.
Palissyales are an extinct order of conifers, known from the Mesozoic. They are best known from the genus Palissya, which is found in Laurasia and Eastern Gondwana dating from the Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous. The only other confirmed genus of the family, Stachyotaxus known from the Late Triassic of the Northern Hemisphere. The genus Knezourocarpon from the Jurassic of Australia has also been tentatively considered a member of the order. The cone of the best known genus Palissya is noted for its unusual construction, which is borne on a large bract, and consists of two parallel rows of ovules that run along the midline of the adaxial surface of the bract which are encased in cup-like structures formed by scales. The bracts are helically arranged around an axis, forming a compound catkin-like structure. The seeds are thin-walled were likely only viable for a short period of time, and were likely adapted to wind dispersal. Palissya has been considered in some aspects to be similar to some Paleozoic Voltziales, as well as Taxaceae and Podocarpaceae.
Umaltolepis is an extinct genus of seed plant, known from the Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous of Asia. Within the form classification system used within paleobotany, it refers to the seed-bearing reproductive structures, which grew on woody plants with strap-shaped Ginkgo-like leaves assigned to the genus Pseudotorellia.
