In the present paper some more angiospermous leaf-impressions recovered from Ghish River, Lish River and Sevok Road section in Darjeeling District, West Bengal have been described, These are-Flacourtia tertiara Prasad & Awasthi 1996, Alsodeia palaeoracemosa sp. nov. (Flacourtiaceae), Shorea bengalensis sp. nov. (Dipterocarpaceae), Zizyphus palaeoapetala sp. nov., Ventilago tistaensis sp. nov. (Rhamnaceae), Syzygium palaeocuminii Prasad & Awasthi 1996 (Myrtaceae) and Homonoia mioriparia sp. nov. (Euphorbiaceae). Out of these seven taxa, five are new records to the Siwalik flora. The dominance of evergreen and moist deciduous elements in the assemblage further confirms the prevalence of warm and humid climate during the deposition of the Himalayan foreland sediments.
The fossil woods described in this paper form the first report from the Himalayan foot-hills near Oodlabari, a small town on Siliguri-Guwahati Highway, Darjeeling District, West Bengal. These belong to the extant genera Baubinia Linn. and Diospyros Linn. of the families fabaceae and Ebenaceae, respectively and have been described as Baubiniumpalaeo malabaricum Prakash & Prasad and Ebenoxylon miocenicum Prakash. They indicate the prevalence of tropical humid climate in the foot-hills during Siwalik sedimentation.
The fossil leaves belonging to the extant genera Dipterocarpus Gaertn. and Shorea Roxb. of the family Dipterocarpaceae have been described from the Middle Siwalik sediments exposed in Ghish River near Oodlabari in Darjeeling district, West Bengal. The occurrence of both these genera in the Siwalik sediments is phytogeographically significant and suggests the prevalence of warm humid climate during the deposition of Siwalik sediments in this region.
A floral assemblage consisting of leaf-impressions recovered from the Lower Siwalik sediments of Seria Naka, about 30 km north-west of Tulsipur town in Gonda District of Uttar Pradesh, India has been described and discussed in the present paper. The assemblage comprises 10 taxa belonging to seven dicotyledonous families - Anonaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Polygalaceae, Sapindaceae, Anacardiaceae, Fabaceae and Ebenaceae. An analysis of the floral assemblage with respect to the distribution pattern of modem equivalent taxa reveals the prevalence of warm and humid climates in the region during the deposition of these sediments. The fossil flora also indicates that tropical evergreen forests with few moist deciduous plants were flourishing around Seria Naka in the Himalayan foot-hills during Middle Miocene in contrast to the mixed deciduous type of present-day forests. Further, the presence of some Malayan elements like Goniothalamus meboldii, Mitrephora macrophylla and Nephelium glabrum is phytogeographically important supporting the view of the migration of some taxa from Southeast Asia to the Indian subcontinent during the Neogene.
The leaf-impressions from the Lower Siwalik sediments exposed near Oodlabari in Darjeeling District, West Bengal belonging to extant genera, viz., Uvaria Linn., Alsodeia Thouars., Hopea Roxb., Grewia Linn., Beddomea Hook.f. and Terminalia Linn. of the families Anonaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Tiliaceae, Meliaceae and
Combretaceae, respectively have been described in this paper. Of them four species, viz., Uvaria ghishia sp. nov., Alsodeia palaeoechinocarpa sp. nov., Grewia tiliaefolia sp. nov. and Beddomea palaeoindica sp. nov. are new records to the existing Siwalik flora. Amongst these six taxa four are found in the evergreen forests and the remaining two in the moist evergreen forests of India and Malaya Peninsula, which collectively suggest the prevalence of warm and humid climate in the area during deposition of these sediments.
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