REPORT OF THE DICOTYLEDONOUS UNILOCULAR FRUIT FROM THE DECCAN INTERTRAPPEAN BEDS OF MARAI PATAN, TALUKA-JIWATI, DIST.-CHANDRAPUR, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

Abstract

: The present paper deals with the description of a new species of petrified capsular fruit from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Marai Patan, Tahsil-Jiwati, Dist.-Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India. The fruit is stalked, oblong, dry, dehiscent, capsular, dicot fruit with basal placentation. Fruit is 2.8 mm long and 1.4 mm broad. Fruit wall is 10.13 µm thick. The fruit wall is differentiated into three zones. The outer layer epicarp is 3.68 µm thick. Middle layer mesocarp is 7.30 µm thick and inner layer endocarp is 0.26 µm thick. The seed is large and measures about 2 mm long and 1 mm broad in size. Seed coat is 2-3 layers thick but is not differentiated in to testa and tegmen. It measures about 0.12 µm thick. Embryo is straight. It consists of two large cotyledons. Radicle is seen attached at the base of embryo. A single stalk is seen attached at the base of fruit. It measures about 3.16 µm in length. Finally summing up the comparison and discussion on the described fossil fruit it can be concluded that the present specimen under investigation does not resemble any of the living capsular fruits as well as recorded fossil flora of Intertrappean beds as described earlier except Geraniocarpon intertrappea (Dahegaonkar 2002) with minor differences hence it is named as Geraniocarpon patanii sp. nov. The generic name is being after the capsular type of fruit Geraniocarpon intertrappea (Dahegaonkar 2002) and specific name indicates the name of the locality from where it was collected.