Betulaceous leaves and fruits from the British Upper Palaeocene

Fossil leaves and bracteate fruits are described from a new Upper Palaeocene locality in the Reading Beds near Newbury, southern England. The leaves are assigned to Craspedodromophyllum acutum Crane and correspond in many respects to those of living Betulaceae. The bracts and fruits are assigned to Palaeocarpinus laciniata Crane, which although referable to the Coryleae exhibits a novel combination of the characters of several living genera, particularly Corylus and Carpinus. An argument is presented for the association of these organs as a reconstructed fossil plant which is an extinct member of the Betulaceae. The evolution and fossil record of the Betulaceae are discussed, the late Upper Cretaceous and Palaeocene being regarded as the time at which the characters of modern genera were beginning to differentiate. Carpinus appears to have undergone a major Eurasian diversification during the late Palaeogene and early Neogene. Dispersal in Palaeocarpinus laciniata was probably less specialized than in most extant Coryleae.