A New Type of Male Fructification referable to Glossopteris

Abstract

IN a recent communication¹, I described several types of pollen sac containing typical Pityosporites type of pollen from some Ranigunj (Upper Permian) coal, Lower Gondwana, India. For some years now, the members of the Lower Gondwana Pityosporites have been assumed to be the pollen of Glossopteris, because both the genera occur profusely and in close association throughout the system². If such a relationship between Pityosporites and Glossopteris is acceptable, naturally, therefore, the sacs containing the Pityosporites should be regarded as the male fructifications of the Glossopteris. If this proposed relationship is established, the morphological value of the male fructifications described here, and in a previous communication¹, may have some bearing in determining the systematic position of Glossopteris, since considerable doubt now exists as to the structure of the male fructifications of the genus.