On Some Plant Remains from Deccan Intertrappean Localities of Seoni and Mandla Districts of Madhya Pradesh, India ].S
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On some plant remains from Deccan Intertrappean localities of Seoni and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh, India ].S. Guleria & R. C. Mehrotra Guleria JS & Mehrotra RC 1998. On some plant remains from Deccan Intertrappean localities of Seoni and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. Pakeobotanist 47: 68-87. The paper describes dicD! and monocot leaves along with some wood remains from new Deccan Intertrappean fossiliferous localities situated in the Seoni and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh. The leaf remains belong to Dicotyloplryllum Saporta, Phoenicites Brongniart, Amesoneuron Goeppert and the woods are represented by Hydnocarpoxylon Bande & Khatri, Polyalthioxylon Bande and Palmoxylon Schenk. Occurrence of mucilage canal in a fossil wood of palm has been reponed for the first time. Key.words-Fossilleaves, Woods, Deccan Intertrappean sediments (Maastrichtian to Palaeocene), Madhya Pradesh (India). IS. Guleria & R. C. Mehrotra, Birbal Sahni Institute ofPakeobotany, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226 007, India. ~~ ~ ~~. ~ ~U f<rc)~ ~ "Q"~~ ~ ~ ~ lfT«f lTUJ fuq;fi Ji I0'5 <.'11 ftr<.'1l 3Rfl10 3R1t qfGq 3Tlritl{t" 'f)l \JffiCRl ffffi ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ *~~~qm x'l~ C:iI>~l\i1q-;tl ~Wtl-~ "lUl~*fucA'l10i -.'i \i1'lem'1 '1 101 ef:;fi fHI\i1q-:f) 10i ~ ~ ~ 'S1$¢If2rl){q;mlf~" ~ ~ ~ \'l2fl C{)fI'O iI>l quA f$<n TT<n I tfj)$;f}'H/$f2f1 mf9<:ni, 3Itf)fI)'1.?I'I x'l~ ~ f6'S'I)<t>14rwf)rll'lilIO~ 10i~, rifc;frrj"('i!JifJCf'{[)rll'lilIO~ ~ ~ \'l2fl C{)fI'O iI>l 10i 41lfTCNfIrll'l Wit> &RT f$<n TT<n I '¥l ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~c'1GilqCf(1 ~3l1 *C{)fI'O -.'i 'lR *t >Rfml I A LARGE number of plant fossils representing Patil, 1975; Prakash et al., 1979; Sheikh, 1980; almost all groups of the Plant Kingdom have been Sheikh & Kohle, 1980; Trivedi & Chandra, 1971). reported from various Deccan Intertrappean lo In addition, Trivedi (1956) and Bonde (1986b) calities of India. A list of the known fossils has described leaf remains from Nagpur and Wardha been given by Bande et at. (1988). Thereafter, some districts of Maharashtra. Amongst these the leaf more megafossils have also been reported from remains reported by Bonde (1986a), Nambudiri the known localities. In addition, fossils from new (1966, 1970), Patil (1975), Prakash et al. (1979), intertrappean localities have also been reported Sheikh (1980), Trivedi (1956), Trivedi and from Betul and Mandla districts of Madhya Chandra (1971) are based on impressions and the Pradesh (Gayakwad & Patil, 1989; Mehrotra, leafy remains reported by rest of the workers are 1990) and Kutch District of Gujarat (Guleria, based on petrifactions. 1991). The material described in the present paper A perusal of the large data reveals that the comes from two adjoining districts of Madhya angiosperms are represented mostly by wood re Pradesh, viz., Seoni and Mandla. The large mains and rarely by leaves, flowers and fruits, etc. monocot leaves and palm stems were collected Most of the angiospermous leaf remains have been from block number 661 and 662 of Binori Reserve described from the Mohgaon Kalan in Forest which falls in Seoni District. Binori (22 0 Chhindwara District of Madhya Pradesh 40' 40": 80 0 l' 30") can be approached both from (Achuthan, 1968; Bonde, 1986a; Chitaley & Patel, Mandla and Lakhnadon in Seoni District. It is 1970; Dwivedi, 1961; Nambudiri, 1966, 1970; about 45 km from Lakhnadon and about 5 km GULER[A & MEHROTRA-ON SOME PLANT REMA[NS FROM DECCAN [NTERTRAPPEAN 69 nonh-east of Ghansor (Map 1). All the woods are two localities are not formally known earlier, they petrified, well preserved and mostly brownish in are being reported here and representative fossils colour. The petrified palm stems (trunk pieces) from both the localities are briefly d~scribed in were found scattered, some ofthem fully and some the present paper. Besides, dicotyledonous leaves half buried in the lateritic "murram" along with collected from Ghughua (23 0 7' : 80 0 37') situated palm leaves in the locality. Some of the woods between Niwas and Shahpura in the Mandla were about 45 cm in diameter. In contrast to the District have also been described in the paper. petrified palm woods, two specimens of monocot Dicot leaves which are in the form of impressions leaves (impressions) were also collected. No have not been reported so far from the area. The dicotyledonous wood piece or leaf specimen was exact age of Deccan Intertrappean has been a encountered in the field either as petrifaction or matter of controversy. According to the latest impression. So far no plant fossil has been de views the age may range from Maastrichtian to scribed from this locality. The only known fossil Palaeocene (Biswas, 1990; Joshi, 1995; Venkatesan from the Seoni District is a palm stem, namely et aL., 1993). All the specimens and slides have been PaLmoxyLon scLerodermum reported by Sahni deposited in the Museum of Birbal Sahni Institute (1943). However, the exact locality of the fossil is of Palaeobotany, Lucknow. not known. GENERAL DESCRIPTION The other localities from where the fossils Dicotyledons have been collected are Chati and Dewargarh in Genus-Dicolylophyllum Saporta, 1894 the Mandla District (Map 1). Chati (23 0 5' : 80 0 Dicotylophyllum ghughuensis sp. nov. 40') is situated at a distance of about 13 km from PI. 1, figs 1,2 Shahpura on Shahpura-Mehdwani road. The exact locality is about 2.5 km on the western side of the MateriaL-This species is based on a well pre road. The locality is rich in dicotyledonous and served, incomplete leaf-impression. palm woods. Dewargarh (22 0 57' : 80 0 46') is also Description-Leaf appearing symmetrical, about 13 km from Mehdwani on Mehdwani ovate, preserved lamina length about 5.5 cm, maxi Kathotia road. This locality is rich in mum width 2.5 cm; apex broken, appearing acute; dicotyledonous woods. These localities are near base broken; margin unpreserved; texture thick to the known fossil localities of the chartaceous; venation pinnate, ? eucamptodro- other well . Mandla District such as Ghughua and Parapani. mous; pnmary vem promment, stout, more or Thus the fossils occurring in Chati and Dewargarh less straight; secondary veins 5-6 pairs visible, 8 are the component of the same fossil forest which 12 mm apart, alternate, narrow to moderately encounters in Ghughua, Parapani, etc. Since these acute (40°- 50 0 ), uniformly curved; intersecondary PLATE 1 1. DicOly/ophyllum ghughuensis sp. nov., leaf showing natural shape, 8. Hydnocaryoxy/on indicum Bande & Khatri, cross section showing size and venation. x I, Specimen no. BSIP 37727. nature and distribution of vessels, fibres and lack of paren chyma. x 80, Slide no. BS[P 37735-1. 2. D. ghughuensis sp. nov., showing details of venation. x 3, Speci men no. BSIP 37727. 9. H indicum Bande & Khatri, tangential longitudinal section show ing nature and distribution of xylem rays. x 90, Slide no. BSIP 3. Dicoty/ophyllum mandf4ensis sp. nov., leaf showing size and vena 37735-[1. tion. x I, Specimen no. BSIP 37728. 10. H indicum Bande & Khatri, radial longitudinal section showing 4. Dicoty/ophyllum pu/vinalum sp. nov., leaf showingshape, size and heterocellular rays and scalariform vessel perforation. x 165, venation. x 1, Specimen no. BSIP 37729. Slide no. BS[P 37735-IIl. 5,6,7. Amesoneuron deccanensis sp. nov., fragments of lamina showing 11. Po/ya/lhioxy/on parapaniense (Bande) Mehrotra, cross section midrib and parallel venation. x 1, Specimen nos. 37730-31, showing shape, size and distribution of parenchyma and ves 37734. sels. x 40., Slide no. BS[P 37736-1. GULERIA & MEHROTRA-ON SOME PLANT REMAINS FROM DECCAN INTERTRAPPEAN 71 800 81" 2]0 a DEWARGARH"- o Fossiliferous Locality j! 0 22 22 0 0 0 79 80 181 0 Map I-Showing new fossil localities in Seoni and Mandla districts, Madhya Pradesh. veins absent; tertiary veins fine, angle of origin 1964; Chowdhury et al., 1970; Mahabale & Rao, RR-RA, percurrent, frequently forked, sometimes 1973; Patil, 1975; Sheikh, 1980; Puri & Mishra, recurved, straight to slightly wavy, oblique, 1982; Dicotylophyllum (Chaudhri, 1969; Dayal & predominantly alternate, close; quaternaries Chaudhri, 1967; Nambudiri, 1966, 1970; Sahni, present, randomly oriented; higher order of 1953; Verma & Mathur, 1968; Singh & Prakash, venation not seen, areoles well developed, shape 1980; Lakhanpal & Guleria, 1981);Deccanophyllum variable, usually quadrangular, occasionally (Sheikh & Kolhe, 1980); andPhyllites (Lakhanpal, polygonal, medium in size. 1952; Ramanujam & Rao, 1967; Rode, 1935; Sew ard, 1912) from various parts ofIndia, it was found olotype-Specimen no. BSIP 37727. that the fossil does not resemble any of them. Locality-Ghughua near Shahpura, Mandla Amongst these, the only fossil which shows District, Madhya Pradesh. general resemblance with the present specimen is Discussion-The above characters clearly a dicotyledonous leaf specimen no. 2 described show that the fossil is a dicot leaf. In the absence by Patil (1975) from the Deccan Intertrappean of base, margin and other details it is difficult to beds of Mohgaon Kalan in Chhindwara District. assign the fossil to its natural genus. The authors However, lack of features such as tertiaries and have, however, tried to compare it with the areoles in Patil's specimen made it difficult to com known fossil dicotyledonous leaves. pare that with the present fossil. Further, Patil's Fossil records & comparison-On comparing specimen no. 2 is about double the size of the the present fossil with the known fossil leaves de present fossil. scribed simply as dicotyledonous leaves (Bose, Thus the present fossil leaf shows the charac 1952; Trivedi, 1956; Trivedi, 1959':'; Lakhanpal, ters of a dicotyledonous leaf but its natural affini- " The specimens reported by Trivedi (1959) were subsequently identified by her in 1980 as Ficus spp. and Psidium guava. They are not true fossils and have been discarded (Guleria, 1992, p.