A fossil dicotyledonous wood of Ochnaceae from the Deccan Intertrappean sediments of Mahurzari, Nagpur District, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

The paper describes anatomical details of fossil wood of family Ochnaceae, Ochnaceoxylon tertiera from the Deccan Intertrappean sediments. The wood is preserved in silicified chert from the Deccan Intertrappean beds exposed in a quarry near the village of Mahurzari, India about 14 km from Nagpur (lat. 21º13.280' N, long. 79º0.84' E). The wood described here is silicified measures about 10.5 cm in length and 4.6 cm in diameter. Its detailed anatomy is studied through Transverse Section (T.S.), Tangential Longitudinal Section (T.L.S.) and Radial Longitudinal Section (R.L.S.) planes. The wood is diffuse porous, vessels are mostly solitary and few are in multiples of two to three. Perforation plate is simple and obliquely placed; rays are biseriate to multiseriate and heterogenous, tyloses present. The wood is compared with modern families like Apocynaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Ochnaceae and Ericaceae. The reported fossil wood shows close resemblance with modern family Ochnaceae. Members of the family Ochnaceae are evergreen, mainly small trees or shrubs, and are presently distributed in tropical and subtropical forests and Savannas. The existence of wood shows the palaeoecological evidence during Maastrichtian.