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Terrestrial red beds are extensively developed in the Upper Jurassic of the Sichuan Basin, southern China, where few fossils have been documented. Recently, abundant silicified wood specimens were found in the central Sichuan Basin, but no plant foliage fossils have been recorded from the same strata. Here, we report the first leafy shoot fossils collected from the red beds of the Upper Jurassic Penglaizhen Formation in Shehong City, central Sichuan Basin. Based on careful comparisons with potential Mesozoic conifer fossils, they were assigned to Pagiophyllum, an extinct conifer taxon of the family Cheirolepidicaceae. The generic classification agreed with the palaeovegetation features of the Penglaizhen Formation which were represented by gymnosperms of Araucariaceae (Agathoxylon‐type wood) and Cheirolepidiaceae (Brachyoxylon‐type wood). The non‐coexistence between the leafy shoot fossil and the petrified wood depicted a unique process of fossil preservation, which may be related to the palaeo‐flood events in this area. The palaeoclimate background during the Late Jurassic of Shehong was suggested to be a hot and semi‐arid or arid condition, supported by the Classopollis‐dominated (75–90%) pollen assemblage from the Penglaizhen Formation. The fossil foliage was collected from lacustrine or fluvial sediments. This suggests that the rainy season is a key factor in the development of regional lakes or rivers and flood events, which offered a suitable local environment for plant growth and helped construct a more complex ecological system, allowing a variety of creatures to survive in the central Sichuan Basin area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neogene plant fossils from low latitudes of China are critical for understanding the history of plant diversity and paleoenvironment in that region. Here we describe well-preserved Cercis fruit fossils from the Fotan Group (~14.7 Ma) in Fujian, southeastern China. Based on detailed morphological and anatomical comparisons with extant and fossil species, we refer to these fossils as Cercis zhangpuensis sp. nov. Cercis zhangpuensis, most similar to C. chinensis A.V. Bunge among extant species of the genus. The currently described species is the southmost fossil record of the genus in Asia. In addition, we have studied cuticle structures of Cercis pod fossils for the first time. The occurrence of Cercis fossils indicates that the genus existed in Fujian, China since the middle Miocene. Available fossil records indicate that Cercis firstly appeared in North America during the Eocene, then spread in Europe and Asia since the Oligocene, with its distribution attaining the peak in the Miocene. We conclude that East Asia may represent one of the major centres of diversification of Cercis in the Miocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study summarizes all existing and unpublished data on the Late Triassic plant fossils in Guangdong. • Four regional assemblages have been distinguished in the Late Triassic by marine fossils such as ammonites and bivalves. • The Late Triassic climate in the Guangdong region was mainly warm and humid, either tropical or subtropical. • During the Late Triassic, central and northern Guangdong were located at similar latitude, along the southern coastline of the South China Block. Triassic-Jurassic deposits are well developed in Guangdong Province, South China. In particular, the Upper Triassic coal-bearing strata which alternate between marine and terrestrial deposits yield diverse and abundant fossil plants, ammonites and bivalves. These strata provide a significant reference for the study of palaeoenvironmental variations in the lower latitude regions. In this paper, we review the major progress on Late Triassic floral studies in this area. Specifically, we compare the regional plant assemblages from different fossil sites in central and northern Guangdong which have been dated with marine fauna. 155 species belonging to 56 genera of fossil plants have been reported so far in northern and central Guangdong. The Late Triassic floras in Guangdong are mainly composed of Bennettitales and ferns, followed by horsetails, seed ferns, cycads, ginkgos and conifers. In ascending order, four regional plant fossil assemblages can be recognized in the Late Triassic deposits, namely the Pachypteris - Lindleycladus Assemblage (Julian), the Pterophyllum - Baiera Assemblage (late Julian), the Clathropteris - Otozamites Assemblage (Tuvalian), and the Danaeopsis - Anomozamites Assemblage (Rhaetian). In general, the Late Triassic climate in the Guangdong region was mainly humid and warm and either tropical or subtropical. The fossil plants corroborate palaeomagnetic evidence that the central and northern Guangdong region was located at approximately the same latitude as it is today and formed the southern coastline of the South China Block during the Late Triassic. Palaeogeographically, the transgression started at the end of the Julian and the south coastal terrane consisted of a western bay, a peninsula and an eastern bay. During the regression period, post-Rhaetian, the bays evolved into a gulf coastal plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premise of research. Discovery of abundant leafy twigs with attached pollen cones and seed cones of Austrohamia acanthobractea from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou Lagerstätte in Inner Mongolia, Northeast China, provides detailed morphological and anatomical features of the species, permitting a whole-plant reconstruction and a more detailed evaluation of the affinities of this extinct plant within the Cupressaceae.Methodology. All fossil plants were studied with standard paleobotanical preparations and descriptive terminology.Pivotal results. Austrohamia acanthobractea has leafy twigs consisting of helically arranged, linear leaves with two narrow stomatal bands on the abaxial surface. Pollen cones are borne in the axil of a lanceolate bract, subterminally on shoots in clusters of four, with peltate microsporophylls. Seed cones are borne terminally or laterally, solitary or in a pair, with numerous spirally arranged bract-scale complexes. The bract-scale complex apparently lacks a free ovuliferous scale. Seeds are obovate and inverted, with two narrow lateral wings. Austrohamia acanthobractea bears a close resemblance to extant Taiwania and Cunninghamia.Conclusions. The morphological cladistic analysis suggests that the two species of Austrohamia form a polytomy with the expanded Cunninghamioideae clade, which includes extant Cunninghamia and Cunninghamia-like fossils from the Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Cenozoic. It supports the original interpretation that the genus is closely related to Cunninghamia and Cunninghamia-like fossils based on material from the Early Jurassic of Patagonia in Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Early Cretaceous Huolinhe Formation in eastern Inner Mongolia, northeastern China has yielded abundant and diverse plant fossils, to which we here add a new species of Taxus based on exceptionally well-preserved, lignified leaves from the Gucheng open-cast coal mine. Taxus huolingolensis sp. nov. has linear leaves with a lamina that tapers to an acute to mucronate apex, and narrows into a decurrent, stalk-like base. The midrib is prominently raised on the abaxial leaf surface. The abaxial leaf cuticle bears dense, short, isodiametric papillae and has two lateral stomatal bands, each of which contains 3–5 short, discontinuous longitudinal rows of stomata. Stomata are longitudinally oriented, amphicyclic, with two polar subsidiary cells and 2–4 lateral subsidiary cells. Each stoma has a more-or-less transversely elongated papillate stomatal ring around the stomatal pit on the outer cuticle surface. Taxus huolingolensis sp. nov. closely resembles leaves of extant Taxus in gross morphology as well as cuticle micromorphology, and within the genus is most similar to the North American species T. brevifolia. Like the leaves of other species of Taxus from the Mesozoic, Taxus huolingolensis sp. nov. has narrower stomatal bands with fewer stomatal rows in each stomatal band compared to the living species of the genus. The discovery of T. huolingolensis adds to our knowledge of Mesozoic Taxaceae and suggests that Taxus has been diverse since the Early Cretaceous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Conifers are common in the Lower Cretaceous Zhonggou Formation of Jiuquan Basin, Gansu Province, NW China. The excellent preservation of plant fossils allows detailed investigations of the leaf epidermis by light microscope (LM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Based on the leaf morphology and epidermal features, two Brachyphyllum species, B. ningshiaense and B. obtusum are described. They closely resemble one another in foliar morphology and epidermal features, but have different leaf apices, cuticle features, stomatal shape and the number of subsidiary cells. The specimens consist of leafy axes with imbricate, spirally arranged, scale-like leaves. Epidermal analysis shows rectangular, pentagonal or rhomboidal unspecialized epidermal cells and abaxially longitudinally arranged stomatal rows except for the marginal areas, as well as well-developed papillae, sunken stomata and Florin rings of subsidiary cells with papillae on the inner surfaces. The imbricate and spirally arranged leaves with rather thick cuticle in both species indicate an Araucariaceae (Araucaria) or Cheirolepidiaceae affinity. However, epidermal features and the presence of Classopollis pollen in the sediments indicate a cheirolepidiaceous affinity. The morphological and anatomical characters of both taxa are interpreted as adaptations to a warm seasonally and temporarily dry palaeoclimate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract The fossil remains of Chamaecyparis Spach (Cupressaceae) were discovered in the Lower Cretaceous Guyang Formation of the Guyang Basin, Inner Mongolia, North China. The Guyang fossils are known from compressions-impressions of a foliated branch with an attached seed cone, a foliated vegetative branch fragment, an isolated seed cone and seeds. This is the first reliable fossil record of Chamaecyparis in China and is also the earliest member of Chamaecyparis currently known. The present fossils have been compared with living and some fossil Chamaecyparis species and they differ from them all. Therefore, the Guyang remains are provisionally identified as Chamaecyparis sp. because of the lack of diagnostic leaf cuticular characteristics. The presence of the Guyang fossils suggests that the genus Chamaecyparis might have originated in eastern Asia during the Early Cretaceous. Their discovery also suggests that Chamaecyparis sp. is possibly an ancestral taxon for the genus. Highlights • Chamaecypari s vegetative and female reproductive organs from the Lower Cretaceous, N China • This is the first reliable fossil record of Chamaecyparis in China. • Chamaecyparis might have originated in eastern Asia during the Early Cretaceous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic, forests dominated by Podozamites —an apparently deciduous, shoot-dropping conifer with broad, multi-veined leaves—were extensive in what were the mid-latitudes of eastern Asia. Podozamites was the only conifer in many forests of this region, and at times appeared to have formed an almost mono-specific vegetation. Podozamites appears to have been little-effected through the Triassic–Jurassic transition, but responded to climate changes later in the Jurassic. The Chinese region progressively dried through the Middle Jurassic and aridity had developed in some areas by the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous. The centre of distribution of Podozamites shifted north, to the Siberian region, where conditions remained wet. There, it typically coexisted with conifers having a diverse range of smaller leaf morphologies. By the late Albian angiosperms had arrived in the Siberian area and risen to dominance. Some time after this event, Podozamites became extinct. This is significant, as it represents the permanent extinction of a unique lifestyle—a deciduous, broad-leaved and multi-veined conifer. The broad history of Podozamites raises some interesting issues: 1. The existence of a large, dominantly deciduous vegetation at mid-latitudes in the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic is little discussed. 2. It is unexpected that as broad-leaved angiosperms took over, amongst the conifers it was the broad leaved, multi-veined Podozamites that became extinct. This is the morphology that might have been expected to compete with the apparently more shade-forming angiosperms. Instead, it was the smaller leaved and single-veined conifers that remained to coexist with the angiosperms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]