Fossil woods from the Tertiary of Hailakandi, Assam

Abstract

Fossil woods representing Pometia of Sapindaceae, Mangifera of Anacardiaceae and Lagerstroemia of Lythraceae are described here from the Tertiary beds near Hailakandi, Assam. Petrified woods of Pometia and Lagerstroemia are known for the first time from India. These are of interest with regard to their palaeogeographical distribution.

Occurrence of Anacardiaceous woods in the Tertiary of Western India

“…M. assamicum Prakash & Tripathi (1970) which shows close similarity with the wood structure of Mangifera indica, shows general similarity with the present fossil. However, it differs in having relatively more and bigger vessels, broader parenchyma bands and predominantly biseriate rays (approx.…”

“…To accommodate the fossil woods of Mangifera, Awasthi (1966) created the genus Mangijeroxylon. Only two species of this genus are known, viz., Mangiferoxylon sc/eroticum Awasthi (1966) from the Cuddalore Series of South India and M. assamicum described by Prakash and Tripathi (1970) from the Middle Tertiary of Cachar District in Assam. The latter has also been reported by Kramer (1974) from the Tertiary beds of Sumatra and Borneo and by Roy and Ghosh (1981) from the Miocene beds of Birbhum District, West Bengal.…”

Fossil woods of Anacardiaceae from the Tertiary of West Bengal, India

“…cuddalorense Awasthi, 1966; Anacardioxylon semecarpoides Prakash & Dayal, 1965; A. shardai Prakash & Tripathi, 1974;A. mangiferoides RamanujalJl, 1960; Mangiferoxylon scleroticum Awasthi, 1966; M. assamicum Prakash & Tripathi, 1970; Melanorrhoeoxylon cacharense Prakash & Tripathi, 1976; Swintonioxylon hailakandiense Prakash & Tripathi, 1968; Holigarnoxylon assamicum Prakash & Awasthi, 1970; and Lanneoxylon grandiosum Prakash & Tripathi (1967, 1969. Glutoxylon burmense (Chowdhury & Tandon, 1952; and Dracontomelumoxylon mangiferumoides (Ghosh & Roy, 1979b) are the two anacardiaceous fossil wood taxa described earlier from the Tertiary of West Bengal.…”

Two dicotyledonous woods from the late Neogene sediments of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

“…Mädler (1939) instituted the organ genus Lagerstroemioxylon for the fossil woods resembling Lagerstroemia. From India, a fossil wood showing resemblance to Lagerstroemia was first described by Prakash and Tripathi (1970) as Lagerstroemioxylon eoflosreginum from the Tipam Sandstone of Hailakandi (Assam). Two more species of the genus, i.e.…”