Sprecher
Beschreibung
When reconstructing ancient vegetation of the Cretaceous and Cenozoic, an important step in doing so is determining the relationships of fossil woods to present-day taxa. Eocene angiosperm woods may have a combination of features of 1) a present-day genus; 2) a present-day family; 3) multiple families in an order; 4) no present-day taxon as based on current knowledge. We discuss examples from the Eocene 1) Wagon Bed, 2) Sepulcher, and 3) Lamar River Formations of Wyoming. Specifically, 1) problematic Sapindaceae and Malvaceae from the Wagon Bed Formation, 2) Lauraceae and Sapindoxylon from the Sepulcher Formation, and 3) Fabaceae and Malvaceae from the Lamar River Formation. Additional knowledge of the wood anatomy of present-day families and genera is needed to help with the study of fossil woods.