Dioscoreaceae fossils from the late Oligocene and early Miocene of Ethiopia

Dioscorea section Lasiophyton leaflets from the late Oligocene (27.23 Ma) and Tacca leaves from the early Miocene (21.73 Ma) of north‐western Ethiopia greatly expand the known fossil record of Dioscoreaceae and represent the earliest and only known records of the Afro‐Asian trifoliate, palmately veined yams (Dioscorea) and bat flowers (Tacca). Both fossils occur in volcaniclastic and clastic sediments associated with a high water table, and the palaeofloral assemblages are indicative of tropical moist forest formations. These fossils provide insight into the evolutionary history of the family in Africa during the mid‐Cenozoic and provide well‐dated taxa that can assist in phylogenetic analyses and evolutionary divergence studies for Dioscoreales and Dioscoreaceae. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 175 , 17–28.