First fossil woods and palm stems from the mid Paleocene of Myanmar and their implications for biogeography and wood anatomy.

This assemblage reveals the long-lasting presence of these aforementioned groups in South Asia and suggests the early presence of multiple taxa of Laurasian affinity in Myanmar and India. The wood anatomical features of the dicotyledonous specimens reveal that both "modern" and "primitive" features (in a Baileyan scheme) are present with proportions similar to Paleocene Indian localities. Their anatomical diversity corroborates that tropical flora display "modern" features early in the history of angiosperms, and that their high diversity remained steady afterwards. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.