Confirmation of <i>Sigillaria</i> Brongniart as a coal‐forming plant in Cathaysia: occurrence from an Early Permian autochthonous peat‐forming flora in Inner Mongolia

Abstract

Abstract A common lycopsid genus, Sigillaria Brongniart, has been recorded most frequently in peat‐forming forests in Europe and North America, but rarely in China. Although Sigillaria , in China, has been found in coal balls and used as evidence that it was a coal‐forming element, it has never been recorded as compression/impressions in peat‐forming settings. Recent investigation of an Early Permian autochthonous peat‐forming flora of the Taiyuan Formation near Wuda, Inner Mongolia, has provided evidence that Sigillaria could be a major element of peat‐forming vegetation in China. Sigillaria is the only arborescent lycopsid acting as a major contributor to peat/coal formation. The genus Sigillaria is another element that China has in common with the Palaeozoic low‐land floras of Europe and North America, enhancing the common floral aspects between the tropical swamp vegetations of the east and west regions of the Palaeotethys Ocean. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.