Mesozoic floras of India: The Kota-Malert stage

Abstract

The paper gives an account of some recent investigations on the Flora of Kota and Maleri, two villages lying on the Maharashtra-Andhra Pradesh border and a little further. These two areas have been variously treated by different geologists and botanists as belonging to the Upper or Lower Gondwana System. As a matter of fact, they belong to what are called the" Transitional beds". Evidence from plants and animals found in them indicates that there was a distinct dry interlude between the Lower and Upper Gondwanas which is now well recognised as the Middle Gondwanas. It corresponds to the Triassic of Europe. On the basis of the flora at least, it seems, that these two areas represent two distinct stages and not one. The Maleri stage corresponds to the Middle Gondwanas on par with the Rhaetic of Europe and Kota on par with the Upper Gondwanas' or the Liassic.