New plants evolve after the extinction in the Permian

Sphenobaiera

Various relatives of ginkgos were common in the deciduous forests of the Triassic and Jurassic.

Sphenobaiera was one such genus. It had very long and slender leaf segments — possibly an adaptation to reduce water loss in a warm, dry climate.

Lepidopteris stormbergensis

Lepidopteris stormbergensis belonged to an order of seed plants called Peltaspermales. They benefited from the comparatively hot and dry climate of the late Permian and early Triassic. Not much water was lost via their leaves.

They were present throughout the entire Triassic, but were wiped out in the mass extinction which ended that period.

Dicroidium odontopteroides and Heidiphyllum elongatum

The Glossopteris elongatum was a conifer, and Dicroidium odontopteroides was a seed fern and represented one of the most common types of corystosperm.

The seeds of Dicroidium were better protected against drying out and insect attacks than, for example, Glossopteris seeds — an advantage in the dry climate.

Pterophyllum filicoides

Most of the leaves on this fossil are from Pterophyllum filicoides. They look like the leaves of cycads, but are not closely related. Pterophyllumlived under conditions similar to those of cycads, however, and it was advantageous for its leaves to have the same shape. The similarity of its leaves to those of cycads is an example of ”convergent evolution”.

Baiera muensteriana

Baiera muensteriana was a relative of ginkgo plants. Its leaves had very narrow leaf segments,  possibly an adaptation to reduce water loss in a warm, dry climate.

Often in fossils, many of the leaves are clustered together, an indication that the tree shed its leaves in autumn, just like its surviving relative, Ginkgo biloba.

Baiera muensteriana

Baiera muensteriana was a relative of ginkgo plants. Its leaves had very narrow leaf segments, possibly an adaptation to reduce water loss in a warm, dry climate.

Often in fossils, many of the leaves are clustered together, an indication that the tree shed its leaves in autumn, just like its surviving relative, Ginkgo biloba.