Occurrence of Presumed Glossopteridean Fructifications in Rhodesia and Nyasaland

Abstract

THE recent descriptions by Plumstead^1–3 of fructifications attached to leaves of Glossopteris and Gangamopteris found at Vereeniging in the Union of South Africa constitute an important advance in the knowledge of Lower Gondwana floras. Unfortunately, the type of preservation of the Vereeniging fossils limits the amount of information which they yield and it is therefore necessary to search elsewhere for better preserved specimens. Glossopteridean fructifications may reasonably be expected to occur in other parts of Gondwanaland. Indeed, single detached specimens, now included by Plumstead³ in her proposed new group ‘Glossopteridæ’, had been described long ago from India by Zeiller⁴, from Brazil by White⁵, and from South Africa by Thomas⁶.