The widely distributed pinnate fern known as _Thinnfeldia_ is first found in the Trias; in the Narrabeen shales near Manly, and the Hawksbury sandstone at Mount Victoria, New South Wales. It is also a common fossil of the Jurassic of South Gippsland, and other parts of Victoria. The grass-like leaves of _Phoenicopsis_ are frequently met with in Triassic strata, as in the upper series at Bald Hill, Bacchus Marsh, and also in Tasmania. The large Banana-palm-like leaves of _Taeniopteris_ (_Macrotaeniopteris_) are common to the Triassic and Lower Jurassic beds of India: they are also met with in New Zealand, and in the upper beds at Bald Hill, Bacchus Marsh. [Illustration: =Fig. 60.--MESOZOIC PLANTS.= A--Thinnfeldia odontopteroides. Morris sp. Trias. N.S. Wales. B--Cladophlebis denticulata, Brongn. sp. var. australis, Morr. Jurassic, Victoria. C--Taeniopteris spatulata, McClell. var. Daintreei, McCoy. Jurassic, Victoria. D--Brachyphyllum gippslandicum, McCoy. Jurassic, Victoria. E--Ginkgo robusta, McCoy. Jurassic, Victoria. ] =Jurassic Plants.--= The Jurassic flora of Australasia is very prolific in plant forms. These range from liverworts and horse-tails to ferns and conifers. The commonest ferns were _Cladophlebis_, _Sphenopteris_, _Thinnfeldia_ and _Taeniopteris_. The conifers are represented by _Araucarites_ (cone-scales, leaves and fruits), _Palissya_ and _Brachyphyllum_ (Fig. 60). The _Ginkgo_ or Maiden-hair tree, which is still living in China and Japan, and also as a cultivated plant, was extremely abundant in Jurassic times, accompanied by the related genus, _Baiera_, having more deeply incised leaves; both genera occur in the Jurassic of S. Gippsland, Victoria, and in Queensland. The Jurassic flora of Australasia is in many respects like that of the Yorkshire coast near Scarborough. In New Zealand this flora is represented in the Mataura series, in which there are many forms identical with those of the Australian Jurassic, and even of India. =Cretaceous Plants.--= An upper Cretaceous fern, (?) _Didymosorus gleichenioides_, is found in the sandstones of the Croydon Gold-field, North Queensland. =Plants of the Cainozoic.--Balcombian Stage.--= The older part of the Cainozoic series in Australasia may be referred to the Oligocene. These are marine beds with occasional, thick seams of lignite, and sometimes of pipe-clay with leaves, the evidence of river influence in the immediate neighbourhood. The fossil wood in the lignite beds appears to be a _Cupressinoxylon_ or Cypress wood. Leaves referable to plants living at the present day are also found in certain clays, as at Mornington, containing _Eucalyptus precoriacea_ and a species of _Podocarpus_. [Illustration: =Fig. 61.--CAINOZOIC PLANTS.= A--Cinnamomum polymorphoides, McCoy. Cainozoic. Victoria. B--Laurus werribeensis, McCoy. Cainozoic. Victoria. C--Banksia Campbelli, Ettingsh. Cainozoic. Vegetable Creek, N.S.W.