Illicioxylon, an element of Gondwanan polar forests? Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary woods of Antarctica

Poole, Imogen; Gottwald, Helmut; Francis, Jane E.. 2000 Illicioxylon, an element of Gondwanan polar forests? Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary woods of Antarctica. Annals of Botany, 86 (2). 421-432. 10.1006/anbo.2000.1208

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Abstract/Summary

The Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary sediments from the northern Peninsula region of Antarctica yield a rich assemblage of fossil wood with well preserved anatomy. Wood specimens of a previously recognized morphotype are described. The woods are characterized by diffuse porous wood, mainly solitary vessels with long scalariform perforation plates, scalariform and opposite vessel-ray pitting, generally uniseriate and biseriate heterogeneous rays, and tracheids with obvious uniseriate, circulate, bordered pits. These fossil specimens show greatest anatomical similarity to the organ genus Illicioxylon Gottwald and extant members of the Illiciaceae. The occurrence of illiciaceous-like wood in Gondwana suggests that the distribution of this family may have been more widespread in the geological past and that a relatively warm temperate climate prevailed over the northern Peninsula region of Antarctica during the Late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1006/anbo.2000.1208
Programmes:	BAS Programmes > Pre 2000 programme
ISSN:	03057364
Additional Keywords:	fossil, wood, Illiciaceae, Illicioxylon, Illicium, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Gondwana, Antarctica
NORA Subject Terms:	Botany
Date made live:	18 Jan 2013 08:58 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/21210

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