Seed plants
The fossil seed ferns (Pteridospermatophyta) were one of the earliest successful groups of land plants. Forests dominated by seed ferns were common in the Permian. Glossopteris was a widespread tree genus in the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana in the Permian period. By the Triassic period, seed ferns had declined, and modern gymnosperm groups were abundant. Gymnosperms were dominant to the Upper Cretaceous, when the angiosperms radiated. Angiosperms are the most common plants today, though there are still large pine forests in the northern hemisphere.