Ganiopteris gen. nov., an early Carboniferous seed plant with foliar-borne ovules and its evolutionary significance.

This paper reports a new genus Ganiopteris that represents the earliest-known seed plants with ovules or seeds (fertilized ovules) attached to leaves (leaf laminae) from the early Carboniferous (∼360 million years ago) stratum in China. Ganiopteris may provide essential information on the origin of the glossopterids (Glossopteridales), an extinct group of gymnosperms that once dominated the Permian (300-250 million years ago) Gondwana Continent including today's Southern Hemisphere continents and India.