The paper describes two gymnospermous woods, namely Araucarioxylon Kraus, 1870 and Podocarpoxylon Gothan, 1905 from the Late Cenozoic sediments (Shumar Formation) of district Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, western India. The woods indicate favourable climatic conditions for the growth of mesic vegetation in Rajasthan till Plio-Pleistocene time compared to the xeric vegetation and drier conditions in the area today.

The Vastan Lignite Mine, situated about 30 km northeast of Surat in Gujarat, preserves a fairly continuous record of near shore lignites interbedded with lagoonal and open marine sediments bearing foraminifera and molluscs. This paper reports a teredo-infested fossil dicotyledonous wood belonging to Family Meliaceae from the carbonaceous shale sequence near the top of the Lower Eocene section. The wood is well preserved and shows resemblance with the extant woods of the genus Aglaia Lour. The presence of wood suggests a fluvial transport from its natural habitat of an inland moist tropical forest to a nearby coastal region. The profuse infestation of the wood by teredos further indicates considerable exposure before burial probably in a near shore lagoon or tidal flat area where it was bored by Teredolites.

Two fossil woods collected from the late Neogene sediments of Rajasthan show best resemblance to the modern genera Terminalia L. and Lagerstroemia L. of the families Combretaceae and Lythraceae, respectively. The fossils belong to the Shumar Formation of Jaisalmer Basin considered as Plio–Pleistocene in age. The habitats of the modern counterparts of the fossils indicate the prevalence of semi–evergreen to deciduous forests with warm and humid climatic conditions in the Jaisalmer District at the time of deposition of the sediments in contrast to the present day xeric vegetation with desertic conditions in the area.

A fossil wood of Lauraceae resembling those of the modern genera Cinnamomum Spreng. and Litsea Lam. is described from the Vagadkhol Formation of Bharuch District, Gujarat considered to be Palaeocene-Early Eocene in age. This is the first record of a fossil wood of this family from western India. In view of the meagre fossil records known from the Palaeogene sediments of western India, the present finding becomes important as it enriches the palaeofloristics. Its presence, along with the already described fossils indicates warm and humid conditions in the region during the depositional period in contrast to the present day dry climate.

A fossil wood showing resemblance with the modern genus Gluta L. is described from the Rajpardi Lignite Mine of Bharuch District, Gujarat. The age of this mine has been considered as Early Eocene. The modern comparable species of the fossil, Gluta travancorica Bedd., is an evergreen element and presently growing in wet evergreen forests of Western Ghats, India. An account of the present distribution of its modern analogue, along with previously described fossils from the same locality indicates the existence of humid conditions and evergreen forest in and around the fossil locality during the Eocene as compared to arid to semi–arid climate in the area today.