Fossil woods of Taxodiaceae from the Edmonton Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Alberta

Abstract

The paper deals with four species of taxodiaceous woods collected from the Edmonton Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Maestrichtian) of the Drumheller area in Alberta. Two of them are Taxodioxylon gypsaceum and Taxodioxylon taxodii, the former showing remarkable resemblances with the wood of modern Sequoia and the latter with Taxodium. Both species are being reported for the first time from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta, Western Canada. The other two species are new and are named Taxodioxylon drumhellerense and Taxodioxylon antiquum. T. drumhellerense agrees particularly with the wood structure of Glyptostrobus. The xylem ray tissue of T. antiquum is characteristic in that the rays here are often extremely high (up to 90 cells) and locally as broad as three to four cells. Such high multiseriate rays are seldom encountered among the coniferous woods.