New plant fossils from the umias of Saurashtra

Abstract

This paper deals with new plant fossils collected recently from the Umias of Saurashtra (Kathiawar Beds). They include two new species, viz., Elatocladus longifolia sp. novo and Brachyphyllum regularis sp. novo Our collection has also revealed the presence of Eqttisetum rajmahalensis (Oldham & Morris) Feistmantel, Gleichenia nordenskioldi Heer, Araucarites macropterus Feistmantel and Pagiophyllum cf. P. divaricatum (Bunbury) which were not so far known to occur in this region.
 This series of Sandstones and Shales referred to as Kathiawar Beds by Oldham (1893) and Fox (1931), were placed by Fedden (1884) equivalent to Umias of Kutch and assigned Oolitic age. They are now generally regarded Wealden.
 Rajnath's (1932) placing of the Bhuj stage (Umia Plant Beds of Kutch) in Middle Cretaceous would imply a similar position for these plant beds of Saurashtra, extending the time range of Matonidium goepperti (Etting.) into Middle Certaceous and perhaps also raising the Himmatnagar Sandstone to that level.
 During our field work a new locality yielding an abundant and well preserved flora has been discovered near the famous temple of Tarnetar on Than-Dhrangadhra road.

Notes on elements of the Oligocene flora from the Makum Coalfield, Assam, India

“…They occur from the Permian through the Mesozoic (as Equisetites), in the Cenozoic (as Equisetum) and from many parts of the world (Lamotte, 1952;Gould, 1968;Andrews, 1970;Lakhanpal et al, 1976;Stewart & Rothwell, 1993;Des Marais et al, 2003). In India, the fossils are generally described as Equisetites rajmahalensis (Oldham & Morris) Feistmantel from the Upper Jurassic of Rajmahal Hills, Bihar (Oldham & Morris, 1863); Lower Cretaceous of Kutch, Gujarat (Roy, 1965;Lakhanpal et al, 1976) and Middle Cretaceous of Gujarat (Borkar & Chiplonkar, 1973). Equisetum sp.…”

Floral diversity and implications in palaeoenvironment of Vemavaram Formation (Krishna Depression), Krishna-Godavari Basin, Andhra Pradesh, India

“…Comparison-The foliage is readily distinguished from all the other species of Elatocladus in presence of narrow, long leaves and variation in the insertion angle of leaves, at basal and terminal position. E. loyolii closely resembles with E. longifolia Borkar and Chiplonkar (1973) from Kathiawar, Kutch Formation in having long foliage, but it differs from the latter in the absence of scaly leaves. E. vemavaramensis Pandya et al (1990) differs from the present species in its thick and stout, small leaves (0.4-0.6 cm long) with thick midrib.…”

Reappraisal of palaeofloristics of Himmatnagar Sandstone vis-à-vis palaeogeographic significance

“…But Himmatnagar flora slightly differs in possessing Matonidium and Dictyophyllum fronds and absence of Ptilophyllum frond which are reported from both the floral assemblages. The fossil floral assemblage of Dharangdhara Formation, (Saurashtra Basin) is characterized by the dominance of pteridophytic fronds, like Equisetum, Matonidium, Phlebopteris, Gleichenites, Cladophlebis, Sphenopteris followed by co-occurrence of conifers, like Allocladus, Brachyphyllum, Araucarites and Coniferocaulon (Borkar & Chiplonkar, 1973). However, pteridosperm is represented only by Cycadopteris, henceforth, is akin to the flora of Himmatnagar Sandstone.…”