A brief account of Cenozoic (Tertiary) flora of India: its development, significance and future considerations

Abstract

The paper is based on megafossil records of which the angiosperms provide the bulk of data and are represented by various plant parts such as roots, woods, leaves, fruits, flowers, etc. The modern flora of India is one of the richest and diverse floras of the world. The roots of extant flora of India can be traced back to base of the Palaeocene or just below the K/Pg boundary. The development or history of primarily Cenozoic flora in India can be divided into three periods, viz., (i) Pre-Sahni Period (1782-1920), (ii) Prof. Sahni's Period (1920-1949) and (iii) Post-Sahni Period (1950 onwards). The first period can be called as the age of colonial or pioneer explorers. It was a period when Cenozoic plant fossils were largely collected as curios and were purely viewed with a geological bias. The second period was the most momentous period in the history of Indian Palaeobotany in general and Cenozoic Palaeobotany in particular. It began with the return of Prof. Birbal Sahni in 1920 from Cambridge, when he took stock of the existing position of Palaeobotany in India and eventually laid the foundation of Indian Palaeobotany. During the third period, Indian Palaeobotany made far reaching progress in all spheres. A large amount of data was accumulated and synthesized for the proper evaluation of the Cenozoic flora. However, many problems are still to be tackled and neglected aspects of the flora need to be looked into to get fuller picture of the Cenozoic flora.