Fossil woods from the tertiary of Assam

Abstract

Fossil woods resembling modern woods of Homalium, Sterculia, Vitex, and a member of Lauraceae are described here from the Tipam sandstones of Rath Tila, near the town of Hailakandi, district Cachar, Assam. Modern equivalents of all these fossils are still found in the forests of Assam or Chittagong. The fossil woods of Homalium and Vitex are known for the first time from India and abroad.

Fossil dicotyledonous woods from Deccan Intertrappean sediments of Ghansor, Seoni District, Madhya Pradesh, India

“…E. antiquum Prakash and Dayal (1964), E. mandlaensis Lakhanpal et al (1978) E. mohgaoense Trivedi and Srivastava (1980), E. ghughuensis Awasthi et al (1996) and E. nawargaonensis Khare et al (2000) are described from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. One of its species, E. hailakandiensis is reported from the Neogene deposits of Tipam Sandstone, Assam (Prakash & Tripathi, 1975). The present fossil wood is almost identical to the known species Elaeocarpoxylon ghughuensis Awasthi et al (1996) and hence placed under the same species.…”

Notes on elements of the Oligocene flora from the Makum Coalfield, Assam, India

“…Fossil wood resembling Cinnamomum have been described as Laurinoxylon deccanenis Bande & Prakash, L. deomaliensis Lakhanpal et al and L. namsangensis Lakhanpal et al from the Miocene-Pliocene of Arunachal Pradesh (Bande & Prakash, 1980;, L. tertiarum Prakash & Tripathi from the Miocene of Assam (Prakash & Tripathi, 1974) and L. varkalaensis Awasthi & Ahuja from the Miocene-Pliocene of Kerala (Awasthi & Ahuja, 1982).…”

Fossil wood of Gmelina Linn. (Verbenaceae) from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Nawargaon with comments on the nomenclature of Tertiary woods

“…Ingle (1972) had described a fossil wood said to possess affinities to the genus Vitex of Verbenaceae from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Mandla District, Madhya Pradesh. However, the identification of this fossil ha,s already been doubted by Prakash (1974) and thus, the present finding becomes the first authentic record of this family from the Deccan Intertrappean beds and extends its antiquity in India to the Palaeogene. The family Verbenaceae consists of about 75 genera almost all of which are tropical and subtropical in distribution.…”