European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference 2026

Coal balls with anatomically plant remains have largely been used for the reconstruction of the Permo-Carboniferous peat-forming vegetation. New materials of coal balls have recently been found from the Lower Permian Taiyuan Formation of Yangquan City, Shanxi Province, North China. The peat-forming plants of the Asselian No. 11 coal seam include Lepidodendron spp., Lepidophylloides sp., Sigillariopsis taiyuanense, Stigmaria spp., Sphenophyllum spp., Astromyelon sp., Stewariopteris sp., Botryopteris sp., Etapteris sp., Psaronius spp., Pecopteris spp., Scolecopteris spp., Myeloxylon sp., Sutcliffa sp., Shanxioxylon taiyuanense, Cordaites spp., and Amyelon spp.. Quantitative analysis demonstrate that cordaitaleans were the dominant elements of the peat-forming forest, accounting for about 56.9 % of the total biomass. Tree ferns and sphenopgytes were subdominant, taking 32.8 % and 9.7 % respectively. Lycopsids and seed ferns were very rare. The composition of the peat-forming vegetation is different from that of the non-peat-forming communities in North China Craton, where the seed ferns and lycopsids took the majority of the assemblage during the early Permian. Our finding represents the fifth locality with early Permian coal balls in North China. Comparing with these peat-forming communities, it shows a great heterogeneity in floral composition of peat-forming swamps. Cordaitaleans were the dominant components of the coal-forming vegetation, accounting for 45-50 % of the biomass, whereas lycopsids accounted for 20-25 % in the Xishan, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou coalfield. However, lycopsids were overwhelmingly dominant in the Ningwu coalfield, constituting at least 68 % of the assmblage.
Key words: Taiyuan Formation; Cathaysian Flora; Coal-ball flora; Peat-forming swamp; Permo-Carboniferous