An Early Carboniferous Flora of the Huadu Locality from South China: Its Taxonomic Composition,Paleophytogeographical Position and Paleoecological Interpretation

The Huadu flora of Guangdong Province, South China contains the lepidodendrid Lepidodendron shanyangense Wu et He, its putative rhizophore Stigmaria cf. ficoides (Brongniart) Sternberg; sphenophyte s.l. Archaeocalamites scrobiculatus (Brongniart) Stur; bowmanitid Sphenophyllum tenerrimum (Ettingshausen) Stur; pteridophyll Sphenopteris sp. of uncertain taxonomic position; undetermined ferns gen. et sp. nov.; lyginopterid pteridosperm Rhodeopteridium hsianghsiangense (Sze) Zhang, Zhao et Wu, a trigonocarpoid pteridosperm represented by fronds and isolated pinnules of Paripteris gigantea (Sternberg) Gothan, male fructifications of Potoniea sp., and seeds of Trigonocarpus sp. Ecologically, the Early Carboniferous (Visean) Huadu vegetation was divided into two neighboring communities: (1) a near‐shore hydrophilous “community A” with predominating Archaeocalamites and Rhodeopteridium; and (2) a wet forest “community B” with predominating shrubby trigonocarpalean pteridosperm Paripteris gigantea (Sternberg) Gothan and tall tree‐like lepidodendrid Lepidodendron shanyangense Wu et He. The Huadu vegetation was physiognomically similar to present‐day low‐latitude mangrove forest.