Cercidiphylloxylon spenceri （Brett） Pearson is described from the Lizigou Formation, Palaeocene in China. The growth tings are distinct; pores are diffuse, solitary, with somewhat angular outlines in cross section; vessel elements long with long scalariform perforation plates; intervessel pitting is opposite to scalariform; fibertracheids are present; axial parenchyma is scarce; rays are mostly biseriate and heterogeneous. All wood characters of the fossil specimen fall into the range of those of extant Cercidiphyllum （Cercidiphyllaceae）. The finding is one of the earliest fossil wood records of Cercidiphyllaceae.
Wen-Yi GUOJian YANGDmitry GROMYKOAlbert G. ABLAEVQing WANGCheng-Sen LI
Charcoals collected from the middle-late Pliocene sediments of the Taigu Basin,Shanxi Province,China,have been identified as Ulmus sp.(Ulmaceae),Prunus sp.,Maloidoxylon sp.(Rosaceae),and Maclura sp.(Moraceae).These taxa,along with the previously known fossils,indicate the occurrence of temperate climate and local wildfire at that time.Charcoals of trees and/or shrubs and the morphological changes of these charcoals demonstrate that crown fires and surface fires occurred in the Taigu Basin during the middle-late Pliocene.
