THE CHARACTER OF THE STEPHANIAN FLORA IN CHINA

The Stephanian Flora of China, redefined biostratigraphically by the Fusulinid Triticites Zone (Jinci Member of the Taiyuan Formation), contains 18 genera and 59 species, which belong to the Lycopsida, Sphenopsida, Noeggerathiopsida, Filicosida, Pteridospermopsida and Cordaitopsida respectively. The character of this flora can be showed as follow:1. The cyathea-type Pecopteris thrived, which resembled the Euramerican Stephanian Flora;2. The existence of Tingi-a, Conchophyllum and some oriental-type Lepidodendron made the Chinese Stephanian Flora a typical endemic,so it should be a part of the Early Cathaysian Flora;3. Some significant elements of the Euramerican Stephanian Flora such as Odontopteris, Alethopteris, Callipteridium and Taeniopteris were completcly abscnt or rare in China;4. The difference between the Stephanian Flora and.the formerly so-called Stephanian Flora lies in that some index genera of the Middle Cathaysian Flora, for in-stance, Emplectopteris, Emplectopteridium and Lobatannularia had not appeared in Stephanian.