The plants of glossopterids: a reappraisal and review

Abstract

New information about the structural features of the plants of Glossopteris and related genera is reviewed in the light of advances made on the basis of permineralized fossils of the group mainly those which have been lately discovered in Antarctica. It is pointed out that the permineralized remains have merely confirmed, although far more vividly, the presence of anatomical features which had been inferred earlier by the study of impression and compression (incrustation) fossils of the glossopterids. The author concludes that the study of impression and compression (incrustation) fossils is as important as that of permineralized remains, and many a time the former furnish details which are difficult to observe in permineralized remains.