Pollen evidence for the occurrence of<i>Casuarina</i>and<i>Myrica</i>in the Tertiary of South Africa

Abstract

Abstract To ascertain whether Casuarina (not indigenous in Africa at present) did indeed occur in the Tertiary of South Africa, a comparative investigation of fossil pollen from the southwestern Cape and recent pollen of Casuarina (Casuarinaceae, eight species), Gymnostoma (Casuarinaceae, one species) and Myrica (Myricaceae, ten species) was carried out at LM, SEM and sometimes TEM levels. The result of this study has established a definite significant distinction between the pollen morphology of Casuarina and Myrica at the generic level. The most important differences concern the apertures, the sculpture and structure of the exine. On the basis of the differences it has been established that both Casuarina and Myrica pollen is abundantly present in the core of Tertiary age from The Southwestern Cape. The occurrence of Casuarina pollen, together with other ancient extinct pollen types in the deposits at the Cape lend support to the hypothesis that a widespread common South American-Antarctic-African-Madagascar flora existed in the Gondwana fragments in the Cretaceous.