INVESTIGATIONS OF ANGIOSPERMS FROM THE EOCENE OF NORTH AMERICA: A CATKIN WITH JUGLANDACEOUS AFFINITIES

Three specimens of one type of fossil catkin from the Middle Eocene of Tennessee are excellently preserved and have been investigated morphologically. The flowers on these catkins are subtended by elongate, three-lobed bracts, are exclusively staminate, and have three conspicuous, obovate, perianth parts that bear large peltate scales. The stamens are well preserved and contain triporate pollen grains that are equivalent to the dispersed pollen genus Momipites. Floral morphology, cuticular features, and pollen indicate close affinities with the extant genera Engelhardia, Oreomunnea, and Alfaroa of the Juglandaceae; but because the fossil catkins are distinct and are a dispersed plant organ, they are placed in a new form genus: Eokachyra. These fossil flowers represent a rare opportunity to correlate the micro- and macrofossil record and to compare the relative rates of evolution of these features. The fossil catkins also demonstrate that much structural information may be gained from the study of fossil angiosperm flowers. The similarities between the staminate flowers of the fossil catkins and the staminate flowers of Engelhardia, Oreomunnea, and Alfaroa confirm the idea that this complex has had a long evolutionary history and suggest that the pollination system of certain extant genera was well developed during Middle Eocene times.     

Fossil floral and fruit evidence for the evolution of unusual developmental characters in Fagales

Flowers of many living Fagales exhibit unusual developmental characteristics. At anthesis, ovulate flowers have carpels bearing immature orthotropous ovules. After pollination, the ovules increase in size and become anatropous and the ovary enlarges. Simultaneously, the pollen tubes extend from the stigma to the ovules with several phases of growth and quiescence. Finally, after the first fertilization, the remaining ovules abort, resulting in a single‐seeded fruit. Three‐dimensionally preserved potentially fagaceous mesofossil flowers from the Campanian of Massachusetts, USA, provide evidence on the evolution of these characters. The fossils share putative synapomorphies with the Fagales (six tepals, mostly inferior, three‐carpellate ovary with each locule initially containing two pendant ovules, punctate‐rugulate, tricolporate pollen and fruit with a single seed). However, the fossil is bisexual and has nectaries, characters shared with the sister order Cucurbitales, and both lack the fagalean immature orthotropous developmental stage. The fossil shares synapomorphies of an inferior ovary and a single‐seeded indehiscent fruit with both living orders and appears to be transitional. Comparison of ontogenetic changes between the fossil and related fagalean taxa suggests independent stepwise changes in development in which some characters of the modern clades were in place at ～ 75 Myr and others evolved more recently. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 168 , 353–376.     

CHLORANTHUS-LIKE STAMENS FROM THE UPPER CRETACEOUS OF NEW JERSEY

Fossil angiospermous stamens with in situ pollen from the Turonian (ca. 90 million years before present, Late Cretaceous) of New Jersey are described and assigned to the Chloranthaceae. The fossil stamens, which are three-parted and bear two bisporangiate thecae on the central lobe and one bisporangiate theca on each lateral lobe, are indistinguishable from stamens of several extant species of Chloranthus. The pollen is spheroidal, 13–18 μm in diameter, with a reticulate exine and apparently elongate/elliptical apertures. The pollen is similar to that in extant Chloranthus in grain size, shape, exine sculpture, and aperture structure. Like pollen of some extant species of Chloranthus, aperture number in the fossil pollen appears to be variable. Because fossil pistillate chloranthoid reproductive structures have not been found at this locality it is unknown whether the fossil stamens described here were borne on the side of the ovary, as in extant Chloranthus, or in another arrangement. The three-parted stamen of Chloranthus is unique in angiosperms and there has been considerable debate concerning the origin and evolutionary significance of the structure. Uncertainty as to whether the three-parted stamen represents a synapomorphy for the genus or a retained plesiomorphy in angiosperms is the primary reason why these fossil stamens are not assigned to the extant genus Chloranthus.     

LATE CRETACEOUS FOSSIL FLOWERS OF ERICALEAN AFFINITY

Fossilized flowers of ericalean affinity are reported from the Turanian (ca. 90 MYBP, million years before present) of New Jersey. The fossils are remarkably well preserved and three-dimensional, and are the oldest known floral remains of Ericales. The series of fossil flower buds, floral fragments, and fruits are not identical to any modern genus of Ericales. The inverted U-shaped anthers with pseudoterminal awns, and the fluted syncarpous ovary of the fossils suggest affinities with basal Ericaceae, probably near extant Enkianthus, a taxon that also shares monadinous pollen with the fossil. Pollen grains were observed clumped on a stigma in one of the fossil flowers. Fossilized acid-resistant strands having characteristics, including similar diameter and sculpture pattern, in common with the muri connect pollen grains and, with scanning electron microscopy, appear continuous with the tectum, supporting the interpretation that they are viscin threads. These are the oldest reported fossilized viscin threads, and the only fossilized viscin threads found in situ in flowers. In modern Ericales and Onagraceae, the presence of viscin threads is associated with highly specific plant-pollinator relationships, raising the possibility that such specific pollinator-plant relationships had developed by the mid-Cretaceous. This is consistent with floral characters in these ericalean fossils, the presence of advanced meliponine bees in slightly younger sediments from the same region, and with the morphology and affinities of other fossil flowers from the same sediments.     

Insect and wind pollination inUrginea maritima (Liliaceae)

Three co-existing pollination mechanisms are found inUrginea maritima: insect-, wind-, and self-pollination. The flowers exhibit a typical insect-pollination syndrome; they offer abundant exposed nectar as well as pollen. Out of the many different visitors only a few could be regarded as pollinators:Apis mellifera, Polistes gallicus, andVespa orientalis. Wind pollination also occurs and generally is responsible for self-pollination.It is argued that the development of extra wind-pollination accompanied by partial self-incompatibility is an adaptation to increase pollination in an unfavourable season (August–September), when insects are scarce.     

Normapolles plants: a prominent component of the Cretaceous rosid diversification

The Normapolles complex, characterised by its oblate and triaperturate pollen, constitutes an important and diverse element of many Late Cretaceous and Early Cainozoic floras of the Northern Hemisphere. Based on the dispersed pollen record alone it has been difficult to assess systematic affinities, but relationships with Fagales have been proposed. Over the past twenty years several exquisitely preserved Late Cretaceous reproductive structures with Normapolles type pollen in situ have been described. In this study we provide a summary and new information of these floral structures. Further, a new genus, Dahlgrenianthus, is described from the Late Cretaceous of southern Sweden. The genus includes the type species Dahlgrenianthus suecicus, a number of reproductive structures referred to Dahlgrenianthus sp., and Dahlgrenianthus trigonus (Knobloch et Mai) comb. nov. from the Maastrichtian flora of Walbeck, Germany. Dahlgrenianthus comprises small flowers with pentamerous perianth and androecium and a tricarpellate gynoecium. It is distinguished from all other Normapolles floral structures in its hypogynous floral organisation. All Normapolles floral structures described so far are thought to be related to various members of the core Fagales, but the group is obviously not monophyletic. The stratigraphic range of the Normapolles taxa and other fagalean fossils strongly suggests that all major fagalean lineages were present by the Cenomanian or earlier.     

ANGIOSPERM FLOWERS AND TRICOLPATE POLLEN OF BUXACEOUS AFFINITY FROM THE POTOMAC GROUP (MID-CRETACEOUS) OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA

A new genus of fossil angiosperms (Spanomera gen. nov.) is established for flowers from two localities in the mid-Cretaceous Potomac Group of Maryland, eastern North America. The type species, Spanomera mauldinensis sp. nov., from the early Cenomanian Elk Neck beds, has inflorescence units with terminal pistillate, and lateral staminate flowers. The organization of inflorescences and flowers is opposite and decussate. Staminate flowers typically have five tepals: two lateral, one posterior, and two in the anterior position. Each tepal is opposed to a stamen with a short filament, dorsifixed anther, and two pairs of pollen sacs. Stamens contain pollen comparable to the dispersed pollen species Striatopollis paraneus (Norris) Singh. Pistillate flowers have two lateral tepals and two anterior-posterior tepals that are opposed to two carpels. Carpels are slightly fused basally along their ventral margins and are semicircular in outline with a long, decurrent, papillate ventral stigma. Frequently this stigmatic surface has abundant attached pollen of the Striatopollis paraneus type. Spanomera marylandensis sp. nov., from the late Albian Patapsco Formation, is similar to S. mauldinensis but is known only from isolated flowers and floral parts. Staminate flowers have four stamens with dorsifixed anthers and each is opposed to a tepal. Stamens contain pollen comparable to the dispersed pollen species Striatopollis vermimurus (Brenner) Srivastava. Carpels have pollen of S. vermimurus on the stigma. Spanomera provides further evidence of unisexual but probably insect-pollinated flowers among mid-Cretaceous, early nonmagnoliid (“higher”) dicotyledons, and is interpreted as closely related to extant Buxaceae. Characters that Spanomera shares with other taxa suggest that the Buxaceae themselves may be closely related to Myrothamnaceae and other “lower” Hamamelididae.     

Combined LM and SEM study of the middle Miocene (Sarmatian) palynoflora from the Lavanttal Basin,Austria: part IV. Magnoliophyta 2 – Fagales to Rosales

An ongoing investigation of the middle Miocene (Sarmatian) palynoflora from the Lavanttal Basin continues to show that it contains an extremely rich assemblage of angiosperm taxa. The Fagales to Rosales pollen record documented here contains 34 different taxa belonging to the Betulaceae (Alnus, Betula, Carpinus, Corylus, Ostrya), Fagaceae (Castanea, Fagus, Quercus Groups Cerris, Ilex, Cyclobalanopsis, Quercus/Lobatae), Juglandaceae (Engelhardioideae, Carya, Juglans, Pterocarya), Myricaceae (Morrella vel Myrica), Cannabaceae (Celtis), Elaeagnaceae (Elaeagnus), Rhamnaceae, Rosaceae (Prunus) and Ulmaceae (Cedrelospermum, Ulmus, Zelkova). Two of the pollen types represent extinct genera, Trigonobalanopsis and Cedrelospermum, and are also reported for the first time from the Lavanttal Basin along with pollen of Rhamnaceae and Prunus. The different types of Quercus pollen are now affiliated with Groups Cerris, Cyclobalanopsis, Ilex and Quercus/Lobatae based on sculpturing elements observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Köppen signatures of potential modern analogues of the fossil Fagales and Rosales suggest a subtropical (Cfa, Cwa) climate at lower elevation and subsequent subtropical to temperate climate with altitudinal succession (Cfa → Cfb/Dfa→ Dfb; Cwa → Cwb → Dwb) in the Lavanttal area during accumulation of the palynoflora. Most of the fossil taxa have potential modern analogues that can be grouped as nemoral and/or merido-nemoral vegetation elements, and the diversity of Fagales indicates a varying landscape with a high variety of niches.     

Fossil flowers and fruits of the Actinidiaceae from the Campanian (Late Cretaceous) of Georgia

A new genus and species of Actinidiaceae (Parasaurauia allonensis gen. et sp. nov.) are established for fossil flowers and fruits from the early Campanian (Late Cretaceous) Buffalo Creek Member of the Gaillard Formation in central Georgia, USA. The fossil flowers, which are exquisitely preserved as charcoal, have five imbricate, quincuncially arranged sepals and petals. The androecium consists of ten stamens with anthers that are deeply sagittate proximally. The gynoecium is tricarpellate, syncarpous, and has three free styles that emerge from an apical depression in the ovary. The fruit is trilocular and contains numerous ovules on intruded axile placentae. The structure of mature fruits is unknown. Comparisons with extant taxa clearly demonstrate that the affinities of Parasaurauia allonensis are with the Ericales, and particularly with the Actinidiaceae, which have been placed among the Ericales in recent cladistic analyses. Because Parasaurauia allonensis is not identical to any one genus of Actinidiaceae, or other member of the Ericales, phylogenetic relationships of the fossil were evaluated through a cladistic analysis using morphological and anatomical characters. Results of this analysis place Parasaurauia allonensis within the Actinidiaceae as sister to the extant genera Saurauia and Actinidia. Parasaurauia allonensis differs from extant Saurauia only in having ten rather than numerous stamens.     

Canrightiopsis,a new Early Cretaceous fossil with Clavatipollenites-type pollen bridge the gap between extinct Canrightia and extant Chloranthaceae

Canrightiopsis with three species (C. intermedia, C. crassitesta, C. dinisii) is described from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal based on small, one-seeded berries. The fruits are derived from bisexual flowers with three stamens borne on one side of the ovary. There are no traces of a perianth. Pollen is of the Clavatipollenites-type, monocolpate, semitectate, reticulate-columellate with heterobrochate reticulum and muri with beaded supratectal ornamentation. The ovary is unilocular with a single pendant, orthotropous and bitegmic ovule. The seed is endotestal. The endotesta consists of one layer of palisade-shaped crystal cells with fibrous infillings. The fruit wall has resin bodies or cavities from presumed ethereal oil cells sometimes seen as stomata-like structures on the fruit surface. A phylogenetic analysis resolves Canrightiopsis as a close relative of extant Chloranthaceae, particularly close to extant Chloranthus and Sarcandra. All three taxa share the one-sided position of the stamens on the ovary. An evolutionary sequence from fossil Canrightia to fossil Canrightiopsis and extant Chloranthus and Sarcandra is suggested by loss of perianth, reduction in number of ovules and stamens and displacement of stamens to one side of the ovary. Canrightiopsis also shares several critical features with extant Ascarina including monoaperturate pollen and beaded supratectal ornamentation of the pollen wall.     

FOSSIL FLORAL EVIDENCE OF MALPIGHIACEAE AND AN EARLY PLANT-POLLINATOR RELATIONSHIP

Fossil flowers with affinities to Malpighiaceae have been discovered in the Middle Eocene Claiborne formation of northwestern Tennessee. The new taxon Eoglandulosa warmanensis gen. et sp. nov. Taylor and Crepet, has paired glands on the five sepals, clawed petals and tricolporate pollen with reticulate ornamentation and an unusual infratectal wall structure of anastomosing elements. The fossil is similar in wall structure to some extant species of Malpighiaceae. Glandular floral morphology in extant species is associated with specific anthophorid bee pollinators and the fossil evidence suggests that such specific plant-pollinator relationships existed during the Eocene. This fossil species also suggests that by the Eocene, South American floral elements had migrated to North America via island pathways, and that the Mississippi embayment was nearly frost-free.     

Appomattoxia ancistrophora gen. et sp. nov., a new Early Cretaceous plant with similarities to Circaeaster and extant Magnoliidae

A new genus and species of fossil angiosperm (Appomattoxia ancistrophora) is established based on well-preserved fruiting units and associated pollen from the Early Cretaceous (Early or Middle Albian) Puddledock locality in the Potomac Group sequence of Virginia, eastern North America. Fruiting units are small, unilocular, and with a single, pendulous, orthotropous seed. The fruit surface is characterized by densely spaced unicellular spines with hooklike tips, which probably functioned in biotic dispersal. Pollen grains adhering to the stigmatic area of many specimens are monocolpate and tectate with granular to columellate infratectal structure, and are similar to dispersed grains assigned to Tucanopollis and Transitoripollis. Comparison of fossil Appomattoxia ancistrophora with extant plants reveals an unusual combination of characters that includes similarities with some magnoliid taxa, particularly Piperales (Piperaceae, Saururaceae) and Laurales (Chloranthaceae), as well as the monotypic ranunculid family Circaeasteraceae. Appomattoxia ancistrophora differs from extant Piperales in having a pendulous rather than erect ovule, and differs from extant Circaeaster in details of the fruit wall, as well as the presence of monosulcate rather than tricolpate pollen.     

Pollen morphology and fossil record of the feathery mistletoe family Misodendraceae

Misodendraceae is a small family of mistletoes in the order Santalales. Its distribution is restricted to the southern South American temperate forests. The family comprises the sole genus Misodendrum with eight species of hemiparasitic shrubs, mainly parasitising the southern beech Nothofagus. This contribution presents palynological evidence from seven species, using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Pollen grains are consistently small, periporate and echinate, although differences in the length of echini and number and size of pores were noted. Pollen features can be used to distinguish groups of species and, in some cases, individual species. Cluster analysis of pollen characters differentiates two main groups: one includes M. brachystachyum, M. oblongifolium and M. quadriflorum; and the other includes M. gayanum, M. linearifolium, M. punctulatum and M. angulatum. Palynological results are compared with previous systematic studies of the family. The South American fossil pollen record is summarised and characters of the fossil pollen are analysed using UPGMA to test the relationships between extant and fossil species. Miocene pollen resulted similar to species of subgenus Angelopogon while Eocene pollen is disimilar to extant species of Misodendraceae.     

Diverse fossil Onagraceae pollen from a Miocene palynoflora of north-east China: early steps in resolving the phytogeographic history of the family

The origin and evolution of angiosperms can be unravelled by using fossil records to determine first occurrences and phytogeographic histories of plant families and genera. Many angiosperm families, for example the Onagraceae, have a poor macrofossil record, but are more common in palynological records. Modern Onagraceae produce pollen clearly distinct from that of other angiosperms. Combined morphological features obtained by use of light and scanning electron microscopy have enabled assignment of fossil Onagraceae pollen to extant genera, and therefore tracing of the origin and past distributions of extant Onagraceae lineages. We studied a Miocene palynoflora from the Daotaiqiao Formation of north-east China. Using the single-grain technique, we examined individual Onagraceae pollen/tetrads using both light and scanning electron microscopy. Fossil Onagraceae pollen is more frequent than macrofossil remains, but is still rare, and usually represented by a single taxon in palynological samples. Remarkably, samples from the Miocene of north-east China contain five different species: two of Circaea, one of Epilobium, and two of Ludwigia. Such a large number of Onagraceae taxa from a single palynoflora is unknown elsewhere. Whereas Ludwigia pollen is known from Cenozoic sediments of the northern hemisphere, the Circaea pollen is the first fossil pollen assignable to this extant genus. This is also the first fossil record of Epilobium from China. Although the young geological age of this sample does not enable consideration of time of origin for the genera encountered, the co-occurrence of Circaea, Epilobium, and Ludwigia in the mid to late-Miocene of East Asia sheds some light on their phytogeographic histories.     

Elatides sandaolingensis n. sp. (Cupressaceae sensu lato) — A new fossil conifer with cones from the Middle Jurassic of Xinjiang,northwestern China

Here we describe a new conifer fossil, Elatides sandaolingensis Z.X. Wang and B.N. Sun n. sp., from the Middle Jurassic Xishanyao Formation in the Turpan-Hami Basin, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwestern China. The materials consist of compressions represented by well-preserved leafy shoots, pollen cones, and seed cone. Leaves are characterized by long triangular shapes, with straight apex and entire margins, and two stomatal bands on the abaxial surface. Pollen cones are terminally disposed on the ultimate leafy shoots, borne singly or in clusters. Pollen sacs are long-oval shaped, with three pollen sacs fused together. Pollen grains are spherical and have small germinal papilla and few wrinkles. The seed cone is oblong, with more than 35 helically arranged bract-scale complexes, which are characterized by long-oval shape and triangular apex. Compared with the extant nine genera of Taxodiaceous Cupressaceae in the morphology of seed cone and pollen cones, the present fossil consistently shares many characteristics with the extant genus Cunninghamia, but differs in other aspects. After being compared with the reported fossil records of the fossil plants, the current species is found to be different from any known species; thus, the present fossil is referred to as a new species of Elatides. From the similarity between the present fossil and Cunninghamia, it can be inferred that there may be a genetic relationship between these two genera. Additionally, the new species has thin cuticles and slightly sunken stomata, which can provide evidence indicating that the climate of the Turpan-Hami Basin in Middle Jurassic might have been warm and humid. By studying the geological history and geographical distribution of Elatides, it can be inferred that this genus may have originated in Switzerland, and it was migrated from Xinjiang to North and South China through the Ural Mountains.     

Recognising angiosperm clades in the Early Cretaceous fossil record

Studies of the earliest Cretaceous angiosperms in the 1970s made only broad comparisons with living taxa, but discoveries of fossil flowers and increasingly robust molecular phylogenies of living angiosperms allow more secure recognition of extant clades. The middle to late Albian rise of tricolpate pollen and the first local dominance of angiosperm leaves mark the influx of near-basal lines of eudicots. Associated flowers indicate that palmately lobed ‘platanoids’ and Sapindopsis are both stem relatives of Platanus, while Nelumbites was related to Nelumbo (also Proteales) and Spanomera to Buxaceae. Monocots are attested by Aptian Liliacidites pollen and Acaciaephyllum leaves and Albian araceous inflorescences. Several Albian–Cenomanian fossils belong to Magnoliidae in the revised monophyletic sense, including Archaeanthus in Magnoliales and Virginianthus and Mauldinia in Laurales, while late Barremian pollen tetrads (Walkeripollis) are related to Winteraceae. In the basal ANITA grade, Nymphaeales are represented by Aptian and Albian flowers and whole plants (Monetianthus, Carpestella and Pluricarpellatia). Epidermal similarities of lower Potomac leaves to woody members of the ANITA grade are consistent with Albian flowers assignable to Austrobaileyales (Anacostia). Aptian to Cenomanian mesofossils represent both crown group Chloranthaceae (Asteropollis plant) and stem relatives of Chloranthaceae and/or Ceratophyllum (Canrightia, Zlatkocarpus, Pennipollis plant and possibly Appomattoxia).     

FUCHSIA POLLEN FROM THE EARLY MIOCENE OF NEW ZEALAND

Fossil pollen of Diporites aspis Pocknall & Mildenhall, from the early Miocene of New Zealand, was examined by combined light, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy, in order to determine its relationship to extant Fuchsia pollen. Based on overall morphology, exine structure, exine surface sculpture, viscin thread morphology, and apertural features, the fossil pollen definitely can be considered to represent Fuchsia. Parallel studies of extant Fuchsia pollen indicate that a more precise identification of the fossils is not possible. With the examination of additional fossil material, it should be possible to learn a great deal about the timing of origin and migration of the genus Fuchsia, but not of its constituent parts.     

A survey of species assigned to the fossil pollen genus Anacolosidites

Anacolosidites Cookson & Pike, a fossil pollen genus recorded since the Campanian, is peculiar in its morphology – six‐porate with three apertures on each hemisphere, located away from the equator, and with the distal and proximal apertures positioned over each other. Representatives of this fossil genus are widely considered to represent extant Olacaceae from tribe Anacoloseae. Olacaceae is an exclusively tropical angiosperm family with a pantropical distribution; consequently the fossils are often used to suggest a tropical climate and in addition are frequently used as a stratigraphic marker. Fossil species assigned to Anacolosidites are quite variable and may not all represent Olacaceae, in which case they may not indicate tropical climate.

The present study is a morphological survey of fossil pollen assigned to Anacolosidites; it identifies the published reports of the fossil species that probably represent positive occurrences of Olacaceae pollen in the fossil record. Within Olacaceae, Anacolosidites‐type pollen is usually compared with pollen of genera in tribe Anacoloseae, in particular: Cathedra, Anacolosa and Phanerodiscus, but never with the pollen of Ptychopetalum, a genus from tribe Olaceae with closely similar pollen to the other three genera, but with a reticulate tectum and very small circular apertures located near the equator. Nevertheless, the records of reticulate Anacolosidites species which have been excluded from the emended diagnosis are unlikely to be related to Ptychopetalum. The earliest accepted record of Anacolosidites is from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Germany. However, most Late Cretaceous records, and later Russian and Chinese occurrences referred to Anacolosidites, consist mainly of Normapolles‐type pollen, whereas many of the Cenozoic records assigned to Anacolosidites have a much clearer affinity with the pollen of Anacolosa, Cathedra and Phanerodiscus (tribe Anacoloseae). The newly emended genus Anacolosidites may be used as a stratigraphic marker for tropical or megathermal climatic conditions.     

Paleobotanical remains from the Paleocene–lower Eocene Vagadkhol Formation, western India and their paleoclimatic and phytogeographic implications

A small assemblage of macro- and micro floral remains comprising fossil leaf impressions, silicified wood, spores, and pollen grains is reported from the Paleocene–lower Eocene Vagadkhol Formation (=Olpad Formation) exposed around Vagadkhol village in the Bharuch District of Gujarat, western India. The fossil leaves are represented by five genera and six species, namely, Polyalthia palaeosimiarum (Annonaceae), Acronychia siwalica (Rutaceae), Terminalia palaeocatapa and T. panandhroensis (Combretaceae), Lagerstroemia patelii (Lythraceae), and a new species, Gardenia vagadkholia (Rubiaceae). The lone fossil wood has been attributed to a new species, Schleicheroxylon bharuchense (Sapindaceae). The palynological assemblage, consisting of pollen grains and spores, comprises eleven taxa with more or less equal representation of pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. Angiospermous pollen grains include a new species Palmidites magnus. Spores are mostly pteridophytic but some fungal spores were also recovered. All the fossil species have been identified in the extant genera. The present day distribution of modern taxa comparable to the fossil assemblage recorded from the Vagadkhol area mostly indicate terrestrial lowland environment. Low frequency of pollen of two highland temperate taxa (Pinaceae) in the assemblage suggests that they may have been transported from a distant source. The wood and leaf taxa in the fossil assemblage are suggestive of tropical moist or wet forest with some deciduousness during the Paleocene–early Eocene. The presence of many fungal taxa further suggests the prevalence of enough humidity at the time of sedimentation.