Features of Namurian Flora in China

Wu Xiu-yuan and Liu Lu-jun

pp. 159-175, 4 plates, in English

Abstract:

The Namurian flora has been studied in great detail, with abundant fossils well preserved in such places as Belgium, Upper and Lower Silesia Basin, etc. In China, this flora was well developed in Gansu and Qinghai, with a few plants also discovered from Zhejiang and Jiangxi. The present paper gives a brief account of the principal materials of the Namurian flora studied in China over the past 30 years, with a summary of the main characteristics of the early and late Namurian flora. These characteristics have provided important evidence for delimitation of the paralic mid-Carboniferous boundary in China and also for broad correlations with the coeval floras of the Euramerica Province, and thus offers significant information for the early evolution of the Cathaysian flora.

Keywords: China, Namurian flora, features