The Triassic Period was the start of the Mesozoic Era that occurred between 251 million years ago and 199 million years ago (Bagley). It began after the worst mass extinction up to this time, after the Permian (Triassic Period, BBC). Although this was a time of death, evolutionary breakthroughs were still able to happen. This was the time when life outside of the ocean became more diverse, and this included plants. There were no flowering plants yet, so most of the earth looked green and brown (Triassic Period, BBC).
At this time, most of the continents were arranged in a giant C-shape mass called Pangaea (Bagley). The climate was very dry, with hot summers and cold winters (Bagley). Because of the dry climate, most of the land was desert. The rocks found during this time have sedimentary qualities, which is how we know much of the land during the Triassic was desert-like (BBC Nature). But, the whole earth wasn’t empty, dry land. In higher latitudes and in coastal regions, Pangaea became home to moss, liverwort, and ferns as well as carpeted forests of conifers, ginkgoes, and palm-like cycads (Triassic). Many of ferns recorded during this time period were a part of the Marattiaceae family (Scott). They were one of the more dominant flora found during the Triassic period. An example of a fern is the Macrotceni-opteris, shown below.
The Macrotceni-opteris, found in Virginia, was a large fern with very broad leaves (Scott).
According to author J.H.A. Van Konijnenburg-Van Cittert in his ecology of Late Triassic ferns in Eurasia, the Mesozoic Marattiaceae have always lived in warm, most conditions, most likely on forest grounds.
Conifers
Coniferous plants are plants that have cone-bearing seeds (Bagley). Most conifers are trees, but there are some that are shrubs (BBC Nature). Some conifers disperse a resin that oozes from their trunk (BBC Nature). The majority of the conifers during the Triassic period were found in the upper forests (Scott).
This is an image of a conifer, specifically a Voltzia heterophylla (Scott). Voltzia is a genus of fossil cone-bearing plants (britannica).
This is a fossil specimen of a Voltzia heterophylla from the University of Tartu Europeana Collection.
Mesozoic Flora 