Taxodioxylon-like charcoal from the Late Miocene of western Bulgaria

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ABSTRACT We present the first anatomical description and taxonomic interpretation of macroscopic charcoal from the Late Miocene of the Staniantsi Coal Basin in western Bulgaria. The charcoal closely resembles the wood genus Taxodioxylon and thus can most likely be assigned to taxodioid Cupressaceae. This group of plants was part of the peat-forming swamp vegetation during generally drier periods, as shown by previous studies on palynomorphs from the basin. Our report presents the first solid evidence indicating which group of plants and probably which type of vegetation were affected by wildfires during deposition of the peat, although taxodioid Cupressaceae certainly were not the only group of plants affected by these fires; it also represents the first record of taxonomically identifiable palaeobotanical macroremains from the Staniantsi Basin.