Wood anatomy of Bischofia: notes on fossil woods referred to this genus

Abstract

ABSTRACT The taxonomic position of fossil woods suggested to be related to Bischofia is reassessed based on the examination of the wood anatomy of recently collected samples of its two modern species (B. javanica and B. polycarpa). Woods of B. palaeojavanica from the middle Pliocene of India, and B. javanoxyla from the early Miocene of northern Taiwan have features of extant B. javanica. In contrast, the Eocene Bischofia maomingensis (South China) differs from Bischofia in a number of features and we propose a new combination Chadronoxylon maomingensis (Feng et Jin) Oskolski, Stepanova, Huang et Jin. Bischofia palaeojavanica from the latest Cretaceous–earliest Paleocene Deccan Intertrappean Beds, India, and all other pre-Miocene woods assigned to Bischofia differ from extant Bischofia in vessel diameters, vessel element lengths, intervessel pit sizes, position of vessel-ray pits, and/or abundance of sheath cells in rays. Therefore, their generic position must be reconsidered, and there is no reliable record of Bischofia wood older than Miocene.