The North China microcontinent was surrounded by tropical oceans during the Carboniferous-Permian transition and experienced a wet tropical climate. On this microcontinent vegetation represented the Cathaysian floral realm that had taxa in common with the tropical Euramerican floral realm, but was characterized by endemic taxa and those that had already become extirpated in Euramerica. Large parts of the North China microcontinent were covered by a cratonic basin in which marine, paralic, and entirely terrestrial beds were deposited that have been described as the Taiyuan Formation. Floras from the Taiyuan Formation indicate that this formation is time transgressive. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.