Wordian Age

Geologic Age

• 268.8±0.5–265.1±0.4 million years ago

Eon / Era / Period / Epoch

• Phanerozoic; Mesozoic; Permian; Lopingian

Biological

Flora

• Plants with adaptations for drought (xerophytic) proliferate

• Glossopteris dominates in Gondwanaland; ginkgophytes and Cordaitales are also success groups, with ferns adapting to the understory and horsetails along rivers and other wetlands

• Tropical summer wet: Ginkgoes, Conifers, and Cordaites

• Tropical ever-wet: Ginkgoes, Pteridosperms, Equisetophytes, Marattioid and Zygopterid ferns

• Subtropical desert: Ginkgoes, Conifers, and Cycads

• Warm temperate: Ginkgoes, Cordaites, Pteridosperms, Equisetophytes, Marattioid and Zygopterid ferns, and Glossopterids

• Mid-latitude desert: no fossil preserved

• Cool temperate: Cordaites, Equisetophytes, Marattioid and Zygopterid ferns, Glossopterids, and Lycopsids

• Cold temperate: Cordaites, Equisetophytes, and Glossopterids