Editing Mesozoic (section)

===Flora===
[[File:ProspectPemulwuypine.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Conifers were the dominant terrestrial plants for most of the Mesozoic, with [[grasses]] becoming widespread in the [[Late Cretaceous]]. [[Flowering plant]]s appeared late in the era but did not become widespread until the [[Cenozoic]].]]
The dominant land plant species of the time were [[gymnosperm]]s, which are vascular, cone-bearing, non-flowering plants such as conifers that produce seeds without a coating. This contrasts with the earth's current flora, in which the dominant land plants in terms of number of species are [[angiosperm]]s. The earliest members of the genus ''[[Ginkgo]]'' first appeared during the Middle Jurassic. This genus is represented today by a single species, ''[[Ginkgo biloba]]''.<ref name="Balducci">{{cite web | url=http://www.fossilnews.com/2000/mezplants/mezplants.html | title=Mesozoic Plants | publisher=fossilnews.com | date=2000 | access-date=28 July 2023 | last=Balducci | first=Stan | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130123140455/http://www.fossilnews.com/2000/mezplants/mezplants.html | archive-date=23 January 2013}}</ref> Modern conifer groups began to radiate during the Jurassic.<ref name="Leslie-2018">{{Cite journal |last1=Leslie |first1=Andrew B. |last2=Beaulieu |first2=Jeremy |last3=Holman |first3=Garth |last4=Campbell |first4=Christopher S. |last5=Mei |first5=Wenbin |last6=Raubeson |first6=Linda R. |last7=Mathews |first7=Sarah |date=September 2018 |title=An overview of extant conifer evolution from the perspective of the fossil record |url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/ajb2.1143 |journal=American Journal of Botany |language=en |volume=105 |issue=9 |pages=1531–1544 |doi=10.1002/ajb2.1143 |pmid=30157290 |s2cid=52120430|doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Bennettitales]], an extinct group of gymnosperms with foliage superficially resembling that of [[cycad]]s gained a global distribution during the Late Triassic, and represented one of the most common groups of Mesozoic seed plants.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Blomenkemper |first1=Patrick |last2=Bäumer |first2=Robert |last3=Backer |first3=Malte |last4=Abu Hamad |first4=Abdalla |last5=Wang |first5=Jun |last6=Kerp |first6=Hans |last7=Bomfleur |first7=Benjamin |date=26 March 2021 |title=Bennettitalean Leaves From the Permian of Equatorial Pangea—The Early Radiation of an Iconic Mesozoic Gymnosperm Group |journal=[[Frontiers in Earth Science]] |volume=9 |pages=652699 |doi=10.3389/feart.2021.652699 |bibcode=2021FrEaS...9..162B |issn=2296-6463 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Flowering plant]]s radiated during the early Cretaceous, first in the [[tropics]], but the even temperature gradient allowed them to spread toward the poles throughout the period. By the end of the Cretaceous, angiosperms dominated tree floras in many areas, although some evidence suggests that [[Biomass (ecology)|biomass]] was still dominated by cycads and [[fern]]s until after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. Some plant species had distributions that were markedly different from succeeding periods; for example, the [[Schizeales]], a fern order, were skewed to the Northern Hemisphere in the Mesozoic, but are now better represented in the Southern Hemisphere.<ref>C.Michael Hogan. 2010. [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Fern ''Fern''. Encyclopedia of Earth. National council for Science and the Environment] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111109071540/http://www.eoearth.org/article/Fern |date=9 November 2011 }}. Washington, DC</ref>