Abstract

Although Metasequoia occidentalis (Newberry) Chaney is now known to have been widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere during the Tertiary, including abundant remains in Japan as late as the Pliocene, it has never been previously reported from Taiwan. In 1971 the author discovered carbonized compressions of leafy branches and a single ovulate cone of Metasequoia in an argillaceous shale in the Middle Miocene Shihti Formation southeast of Taipei. In addition, numerous of the matrix containing the macrofossil material, as well as from the underlying coal beds of the same age.