Cycads, a Type of Gymnosperm

Great Permian extinction – A mass extinction at the close of the Paleozoic destroyed 70 percent of all vertebrate species on land and 90 percent of all marine organisms

Mesozoic, literally the era of middle life, is often called the “Age of Reptiles”
Organisms that survived the extinction at the end of the Paleozoic began to diversify

Gymnosperms (cycads, conifers, and ginkgoes) became the dominant trees of the Mesozoic
Reptiles became the dominant land animals
First reptiles were small, but evolved rapidly, particularly the dinosaurs