J Syst Evol ›› 2010, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (4): 302-308.DOI: 10.1111/j.1759-6831.2010.00083.x

• Research Articles • Previous Articles    

First record of Cercidiphylloxylon (Cercidiphyllaceae) from the Palaeocene of Fushun, NE China

1,6Wen-Yi GUO 1Jian YANG 2Dmitry GROMYKO 3Albert G. ABLAEV 4,5Qing WANG 1Cheng-Sen LI*   

  1. 1(State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China)
    2(Department of Palaeobotany, Komarov Botanical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg 197376, Russia)
    3(V.I. IL'IChev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok 690041, Russia)
    4(Beijing Radiation Center, Beijing 100875, China)
    5(Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing, 100050, China)
    6(Graduate University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China)
  • Received:2009-11-25 Published:2010-07-20

Abstract: Cercidiphylloxylon spenceri (Brett) Pearson is described from the Lizigou Formation, Palaeocene in China. The growth rings are distinct; pores are diffuse, solitary, with somewhat angular outlines in cross section; vessel elements long with long scalariform perforation plates; intervessel pitting is opposite to scalariform; fiber-tracheids are present; axial parenchyma is scarce; rays are mostly biseriate and heterogeneous. All wood characters of the fossil specimen fall into the range of those of extant Cercidiphyllum (Cercidiphyllaceae). The finding is one of the earliest fossil wood records of Cercidiphyllaceae.

Key words: Cercidiphyllum, Cercidiphylloxylon, fossil wood, Fushun, Palaeocene.