First Record of Lagerstroemia (family Lythraceae) Wood from the Deccan Intertrappean Beds of India

A permineralized wood from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of central India is identified as a member of the family Lythraceae. The fossil wood found is similar to the modern genus Lagerstroemia and is characterized by diffuse porous to semi-ring porous wood, growth rings marked by marginal parenchyma, simple perforations, scanty paratracheal axial parenchyma, exclusively uniseriate homo to heterocellular rays and septate fibres with chambered crystals. This wood, Lagerstroemioxylon sp., is considerably older than the earlier known fossil records of this genus and confirms the presence of Lagerstroemia on the Indian subcontinent similar to 66 million years ago.