| Abstract: | A kind of silicified fossil wood with mixed pits on the radial tracheid wall is described. The fossil wood was collected from the top of Taiyuan Formation (early Early Permian) in Wuda Mining District, Nei Mongol. Compared with the Paleozoic fossil woods in the world, it is put into Araucarioxylon Kraus and named as A. laoshidanense sp. nov. Based on the character of possessing mixed pittings (alternate and opposite pittings) on the radial tracheid wall, the fossil wood is believed to be one of the unknown primitive conifers.Diagnosis of the new species: Only secondary xylem preserved and consisting of axial tracheids and rays. Growth ring boundary, resin duct and axial parenchyma absent. One to Four (commonly 2or3) seriates of bordered pits mostly alternate but sometimes opposite）on the radial tracheid wall. One to Four (commonly1, rarely2 to 4) Cupressoid pits in each cross-field. Rays usually uniseriate, sometimes partly-biseriate and 2 to 39 (mainly3-5) cells high. |
