498 PTERIDOSPERMS, ETC. [CH. 



able to this view. Dr White ^ has suggested that the small 

 leaves described by Zeiller^ as Ottokaria hengalensis from Lower 

 Gondwana (Permo-Carboniferous) rocks of India, and similar 

 fossils recorded by himself from Brazil as 0. ovalis, may repre- 

 sent " sporangiferous " organs of Glossopteris or Gangamopteris, 

 " both of which are probably pteridospermic." There is, how- 

 ever, no conclusive evidence in support of this suggestion. 



The genus, whatever its position may be, has a special interest 

 for the geologist and for the student of plant distribution; it is 

 a characteristic member of a Permo-Carboniferous flora which 

 flourished over an enormous area, including India, South Africa, 

 — extending from Cape Colony to Rhodesia and German East 

 Africa ^ — Australia, and South America*. This flora, known as 

 the Glossopteris flora, differed considerably in its component 

 genera from that which overspread Europe and North America 

 and some more southern regions in the Upper Carboniferous 

 and Permian periods. 



The discovery by Amalitzky ® of Glossopteris, and other genera 

 characteristic of the Glossopteris flora, in the Upper Permian 

 rocks in Vologda (Russia) demonstrates the existence of a 

 northern outpost of the southern botanical province, and 

 Zeiller's discovery of the genus in the Rhaetic flora of Tonkin'' 

 shows that Glossopteris persisted beyond the limits of the 

 Palaeozoic epoch. Dr David White ^ has recently proposed to 

 re-christen the Glossopteris flora the Gangamopteris flora on the 

 ground that Gangamopteris is strictly Palaeozoic in its range, 

 whereas Glossopteris persisted into the Mesozoic era; this is 

 perhaps hardly a suflScient reason for giving up so well 

 established a title as the Glossopteris flora. A fuller account 

 of this southern flora must be reserved for another volume. 



1 White (08) p. 535. ^ Zeiller (02). 



3 Potoni6 (00). 



■• Seward (04^) ; Zeiller {9V); Arber (05) p. 17; D. White (07). 



» Amalitzky (01) ; Zeiller (98^). » Zeiller (02). 



' D. White (07) p. 617 (footnote 2). 



