The first record of Larix from the British Pleistocene

Abstract

The first British Pleistocene record of Larix (Larch) is described from the Brays Pit near Mathon in the English West Midlands. This new record is the most westerly from the European Pleistocene and is also beyond the western limit of the distribution of any extant species of Larix within Europe. Today there are no native species of Larix in the British Isles. The fossil remains comprise of macrofossils and pollen, which are not, however, well enough preserved to allow determination to species level. The fluvial sediments which yielded the fossils were probably deposited in the early Anglian Stage or possibly during an earlier Pleistocene event.