Thirteen taxa of fossil dicotyledonous woods are described from the Tipam Sandstone (Mio-Pliocene) and Dupi Tila Formations (Plio-Pliestocene) of Bangladesh. Their anatomical characters suggest affinities to Anacardiaceae, Burseraceae, Clusiaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Fabaceae, Lecythidaceae, Meliaceae and Moraceae. These fossil woods demonstrate a high familial and generic similarity with the extant floras of Southern Asia. This floristic link provides support to the hypothesis that the Neogene-Quarternary landscape was dominated by tropical to subtropical, semi-evergreen to evergreen forest, thriving under warm climatic conditions and high precipitation. The vegetation would have been similar to that of today but possibly more diverse. © 2012 E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, Germany.

SUBIR BERA

Botany

I SEN

D K PARUA

MD SULTAN-UL-ISLAM

University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University or CU) is a collegiate public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.&nbsp;Within India it is recognized as a &quot;Five-Star University&quot; and accredited &quot;A&quot; Grade by National Assessment and Accreditation Council.

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The University of Calcutta has secured the Fifth position among the Universities of India in the prestigious &quot;Indian University Ranking 2019&quot; list, released by the NIRF of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

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It was established on 24 January 1857, and was one of the first institutions in Asia to be established as a multidisciplinary and Western-style university. Its alumni and faculty include several heads of state, heads of government, social reformers, prominent artists, only academy award winner and Dirac medal winner in India, many Fellows of the Royal Society and five Nobel laureates as of 2019 which is highest in South Asia.

University Of Calcutta

Palaeontographica Abteilung B: Palaeophytologie

Here, we report fossil leaves, woods, and pollen grains comparable to Calophyllum L. (mainly to Calophyllum inophyllum L. and Calophyllum polyanthum Wall. ex Choisy) of Calophyllaceae from the upper (Kimin Formation, late Pliocene-early Pleistocene), middle (Subansiri Formation, Pliocene) Siwalik sediments of the Arunachal sub-Himalaya, and lower (Gish Clay Formation of Sevok Group; middle to late Miocene) Siwalik sediments of the Darjeeling foothills, eastern Himalaya. Their presence indicates a warm and humid tropical environment in the region during the period of Siwalik sedimentation. Considering all records of Calophyllum, it is suggested that Calophyllum was a frequent forest element throughout the period of Siwalik sedimentation during the Neogene (Miocene time). At present, C. polyanthum grows in the eastern Himalaya, but C. inophyllum is totally absent from north-eastern regions suggesting differential adaptability of these taxa to changing ecoclimatic conditions. Distinct climate change in the area, possibly related to the Himalayan Orogeny during Miocene–Pleistocene times, might have caused the disappearance of C. inophyllum from the entire eastern Himalaya and north-east Indian plains and a move to littoral/coastal and swampy forests of India and other adjoining south-east Asian regions, Polynesia, and the east coast of Africa. The past global distribution of Calophyllum is also discussed, and it is suggested that India may have been its primary centre of origin. This is the first time Cenozoic fossil leaves Calophyllum siwalikum Khan, R.A.Spicer & Bera, sp. nov. comparable to C. inophyllum are described using the both macro- and micromorphological characters. © 2017, Springer-Verlag Wien.

Journal	Palaeontographica Abteilung B: Palaeophytologie
Publisher	E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung
ISSN	0375-0299
Open Access	No