Abstract: Separate biostratigraphical schemes have been developed for Permian macrofloras in the five main phytochoria (palaeokingdoms), reflecting the essential lack of overlap in taxonomic composition. In Europe two biozones are normally recognized, in North America three zones, in Cathaysia three or four zones, in Gondwana four zones and in Angara five zones. The stratigraphical resolution tends to be far less than that of palynology, and up to an order of magnitude coarser than the macrofloral biozones of the Pennsylvanian subsystem. This is probably due, at least in part, to the lack of rigor in the way that the Permian macrofloral zones have been defined. Nevertheless, the existing zones do provide evidence of the overarching trajectory of change in vegetation through the Permian Period, as it responded at all palaeolatitudes to a combination of climate change, large-scale volcanic eruptions and tectonically driven landscape changes.