The Jurassic floras of Europe show considerable diversity. To examine the extent of this diversity and its possible causes we used multivariate statistical methods (cluster analysis, PCA, NMDS) to compare all significant Jurassic floras in Europe. Data were based on 770 taxa from 46 fossiliferous occurrences (25 units) from France, Germany, Greenland, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Statistical analyses were applied at species level and genus level, and also performed for the major plant groups. The genus cladograms show affinities between different localities based on environmental factors, while the cladograms based on species affinities indicate only taxonomical correlations. The study shows that locality age does not seem to be of paramount importance for floral composition.\u

Plant macroremains from five boreholes in Poland were studied. Two of them (Huta OP-1 and Studzianna) from the northern margin of the Holy Cross Mountains, yielded several taxa. In the other three boreholes determinable fos-sil plants were sporadic, albeit important. Most of the taxa from the Huta OP-1 and Studzianna boreholes are typi-cal of the European Early Jurassic (Hettangian and Sinemurian). Both localities, although close to one another, show incertae sedis, Desmiophyllum harrisii phytes and conifers (a new species incertae sedis, Desmiophyllum harrisii Barbacka et Pacyna is herein proposed), which would suggest rather wet and warm conditions. This flora is typical of the European Province of the Euro-Sinian Region. In Studzianna the Siberian elements dominate, gymnosperms, mainly Czekanowskiales, which in-dicate a drier and colder environment. The palaeobotanical data correspond to the results of clay mineral studies, in particular the kaolinite/illite ratio in the source formations. The kaolinite content confirms a decrease in temperature and a reduction in rainfall in the late Early Hettangian and the latest Hettangian in the area.

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Stomatal ontogeny is often inferred but rarely documented for extinct fossil plants because it requires observations from young leaves that are rarely preserved as fossils. The discovery of several very young leaves of the Jurassic plant Sagenopteris (Caytoniales) in the Mecsek Mountains (southern Hungary) in a good state of preservation provides the opportunity for studying the stomatal ontogenesis of this genus. The specimens show perigenous anomocytic stomata. This feature confirms the evolutionarily high position of Sagenopteris among fossil gymnosperms and supports the opinion that the ancestors of angiosperms and some groups of pteridosperms might be closely related. Such clear examples of stomatal development have not previously been documented for fossil material.