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Rhizomes with tubers of Equisetum cf. pratense Ehrhart are described for the first time from the late Miocene of Lühe, Yunnan Province, southwestern China. The rhizomes consist of distinct nodes and internodes. The nodes bear one to four bunches of tubers (two to four tubers per bunch). The tubers are elliptical, rounded, ovate, or spindle shaped, and the most distal is mucronate. The occurrence of E. cf. pratense would indicate a wet habitat, and the presence of rhizomes with tubers implies that burial occurred during the late fall or winter, assuming that the fossil and its nearest living relative have similar climatic tolerances and phenology. These finds, combined with the presence of thermophilous genera Cyclobalanopsis, Castanopsis, and Liquidambar and hygrophilous elements Alnus and Taxodioxylon, indicate a warm and humid subtropical climate at Lühe in the Miocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leaflet architecture of Cyclocarya cf. paliurus (Batal.) Iljinskaja from the Hunchun Formation (Middle Eocene) shows similarity to that of modern C. paliurus (Batal.) Iljinskaja and the specimen is the oldest fossil record in Europe and Asia. The distributions of C. cf. paliurus and other fossil records, such as Glyptostrobus, Metasequoia, Nyssa, and Liquidambar, in Hunchun flora show that it would have been a warmer-temperature to subtropical climate in Hunchun District during the Eocene period. (Managing editor: Ya-Qin HAN) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]