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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]

Abstract: Newly collected material of Comptonia leaves and fruits (C. naumannii and C. tymensis, respectively) from the lower Miocene of Weichang, China, are studied in detail. The leaves show great similarities in morphology and cuticular structures to those of the single extant species C. peregrina. It suggests a close genetic relationship between C. numannii and C. peregrina. Comptonia was widespread over the Northern Hemisphere during most of the Cenozoic, and obviously migrated into Asia from North America via a continental connection in the Eocene. Due to the cooling of global climate, it may have later gradually evolved into two ecotypes (thermophilous and cold tolerant). In the early Miocene C. naumannii was recorded from Northeast Asia and Alaska, but it disappeared from Alaska in the latest Miocene. The records suggest that plant exchange between Northeast Asia and North America may have ceased after the early Miocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: By applying the Coexistence Approach (CA) to palynological data from the Laohutai, Lizigou, Guchengzi, Jijuntun and Xilutian Formations in Fushun, northeastern China, a quantitative reconstruction of the Palaeocene to Eocene climate is made. During that time, Mean Annual Temperature changed from 11.3 to 21°C, Mean Annual Precipitation from 654 to 1540mm, Mean Temperature of the Warmest Month from 19.4 to 28.2°C, Mean Temperature of the Coldest Month from 3.6 to 13.9°C, Mean Annual Range of Temperature from 12.8 to 23.5°C, Mean Maximum Monthly Precipitation from 175 to 354mm, and Mean Minimum Monthly Precipitation from 8 to 27mm. All the parameters in the five formations indicate a subtropical climate. This situation is different from the current climate at the same site, a mid-temperate and continental monsoon climate, with a Mean Annual Temperature of 6.6°C and a Mean Annual Precipitation of 804mm. In addition, the climatic parameters obtained from megafossil data (only found in the Jijuntun Formation) were analyzed and approximate those from the palynological data. The parameters from the palynological data support the view that the Palaeogene climate of Northeast Asia and North America was similar, but unlike that of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Extant Berberis is a member of the basal eudicots with a South America (group Australes)-Old World (group Septentrionales) disjunctive distribution pattern. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain the formation of this pattern. Recent molecular studies suggest that this pattern was caused by a vicariance event in the Cretaceous. More fossil evidence is required to evaluate these hypotheses. Here a new species of Berberis from the Palaeocene Wuyun flora is established based on a detailed comparison with all other fossil and related living Berberis. The occurrence of a Palaeocene Berberis in NE China and other fossil data suggest that 1) the genus originated in eastern Asia, 2) the leaf venation of the genus probably evolved from pinnate to acrodromous, leaf margins from densely spinose teeth to only occasionally toothed or even entire, 3) the genus would appear to have migrated from eastern Asia to North America in the Oligocene, via Beringia. Berberis probably arrived in Europe from Asia during the late Oligocene when Eurasia was reunited after the retreat of the Turgai Straits. Berberis could have migrated to India from eastern Asia, arriving before the last major upheaval of the Himalayas in the Pleistocene. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]