ABSTRACT
The importance of paleobotany in dating continental sediments is unanimously admitted. Plants are generally fossilized in place. The study of fossil flora contributes to our understanding of biostratigraphy, paleoecology and paleoclimatology. The Paleozoic flora of Egypt has been studied by Jongmans & Koopmans and Jongmans & Van der Heide. In Ras Gharib and Ayun Musa, on both sides of the Gulf of Suez, these authors describe Lycophyta and Pteridophylla with new species of Lepidodendropsis, Cyclostigma, Sublepidodendron and Sphenopteris. This flora presents similarities to the Mississipian flora of Spain, Donetz basin, United States, Libya, China and Peru and is of early Carboniferous age. Schiumami, Burger & Dijkstra report Permian sediments from Wadi Araba carrying one typical Cordaites sp. and palynoflora. The Devonian and early Carboniferous fossil flora indicate a generally warm climate. Pteridophylla were sphenopsid forms with lamina leaves more or less incised, having thin cuticula and numerous nervs, indicating rather wet climatic conditions.
