Revision of some dipterocarpaceous woods previously described from the Tertiary of south India

Abstract

The present paper consists of the revision of five species of fossil dipterocarpaceous woods, viz. Dipterocarpoxylon indicum, Shoreoxylon holdeni, S. mortandranse, S. megaporosum and Anisopteroxylon cuddalorense, described by Ramanujam (1956, 1960) from the Tertiary of South India, near Pondicherry, South Arcot district, Tamil Nadu (Madras). On re-investigation these were found very similar to the wood structure of the genus Dryobalanops Gaertn. f. and hence transferred to the genus DryobalanoxyIon Den Berger. The first species, i.e. Dipterocarpoxylon indicum, is renamed as Dryobalanoxylon indicum (Ramanujam) comb. nov., and the remaining four species, found identical with each other, are placed under Dryobalanoxylon holdeni (Ramanujam) comb. nov.