GLOSSOPTERIS

genus of fossil plants dating to the Late Paleozoic Era (ended about 245 million years ago). Long considered a fern after its discovery in 1824, it was later assigned to the gymnosperms. It is regarded by some authorities as being close to the ancestral angiosperm, or flowering plant. Certain poorly preserved reproductive structures associated with the leaves may in fact be the seed-bearing capsules of Glossopteris. Glossopteris is the key plant in a fossil assemblage called the Glossopteris flora, which also includes several related fossil genera (e.g., Lidgettonia and Gangamopteris) in Late Paleozoic rocks of South Africa, India, Australia, and South America.