Roadian Age

The Roadian (272-269 Ma) is the first stage of the Middle Permian occurring before the Wordian, and after the Kungurian (Early Permian)

What happened during this time?

Glossopteris dominates in Gondwanaland; ginkgophytes and Cordaitales are also success groups, with ferns adapting to the understory and horsetails along rivers and other wetlands
Cycads and voltzialean conifers, which appear in the Carboniferous, diversify in the expanding desert ecosystems on Pangaea during this time
- Many of these gymnosperms appear in the Late Carboniferous, but are beginning to dominate in this new xeric landscape
The Voltizian conifer, Manifera talaris, which had auto-rotating seeds similar to modern conifers (Stevenson et al. 2015)
- Plant displayed three morpho-types on the same plant: Seeds with single wing (similar to modern conifers); 2 symmetrical wings; 2 wings of unequal sizes
- Simulated models show that seeds with a single wing initiated auto-rotation much more easily than seeds with two wings. Many double-winged seeds plummeted to ground.
- Research also showed that single-winged seeds descended more slowly than double-winged seeds
Gigantopterids are found in Chinese fossil sites in environments that were warm, cool, and cold temperate environments
In cool temperate environments Lycopsids, Equisetophytes, Marattioid, and Zygopterid ferns