IAWA Journal, Vol.

24 (2), 2003: 163 –172

PETRIFIED WOOD FROM THE FARAFRA OASIS, EGYPT

by
Marwah M. Kamal El-Din
Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Ain Shams, Cairo, Egypt

SUMMARY

Two fossil wood species Celastrinoxylon celastroides and Ficoxylon

cretaceum are reported and described for the first time from the Farafra
Oasis in Egypt. They are compared to earlier descriptions of these spe-
cies from Egypt and other parts of Africa.
Key words: Fossil wood, Celastrinoxylon, Ficoxylon, Farafra, Egypt.

INTRODUCTION

Beadnell (1901) referred to the occurrence of silicified wood and other plant remains
in Upper Cretaceous strata to the west of Bir El-Obeiyid in the Farafra Depression,
Egypt (Fig. 1). There are a few earlier reports on petrified wood from sites near Farafra.
Russegger (1843) reported on fossil wood from a site to the west of Asyut. Schenk
(1883) reported on fossil wood (Rohlfsia celastroides) from south of Farafra in a zone
between Ammonite Hills and Regenfeld (Fig. 1). Kräusel later (1939) studied this
wood and named it Celastrinoxylon celastroides (Schenk) Kräusel and also described
a second type of petrified wood (?Ficoxylon sp.). Leaf impressions and fruit casts also
are known from Farafra (Kräusel 1939; Chandler 1954; Darwish et al. 2000).
To date 20 fossil wood species are reported from the Cretaceous of Egypt. Eight are
gymnosperms, two are monocots and ten are dicots (Kräusel & Stromer 1924; Kräusel
1939; Youssef 1993, 2002; Dupéron-Laudoueneix & Dupéron 1995; Mostafa 2000).
The dicot woods are: 1) Celastrinoxylon celastroides (Schenk) Kräusel, 2) ? Celastrin-
oxylon sp., 3) Ebenoxylon ebenoides (Schenk) Edw., 4) Eubenoxylon sp., 5) Fic-
oxylon cretaceum Schenk, 6) ? Ficoxylon sp., 7) Hibiscoxylon niloticum Kräusel,
8) Proteoxylon chargeense Kräusel, 9) Ternstroemioxylon dachelense Kräusel, and
10) Terminalioxylon intermedium (Kräusel) Mädel & Müller-Stoll (Kräusel 1939;
Youssef 1993; Dupéron-Laudoueneix & Dupéron 1995). This small number of Creta-
ceous dicot woods shows that much work has to be done on Cretaceous fossil woods in
Egypt and elsewhere since there are about 120 records for the whole of the Cretaceous
worldwide (Wheeler & Baas 1991).
The aim of this paper is to report on the 1997 find of a number of petrified tree
trunks at a site in Farafra Oasis and to give full wood anatomical descriptions of two
species.

Study area
Farafra Oasis covers about 20,000 sq. km and is located about 300 km to the west
of Asyut between longitudes 27° 10 ' and 28° 50 ' and latitudes 26° 25 ' and 27° 40 ' (see

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164 IAWA Journal, Vol. 24 (2), 2003

Zaghloul 1983). The study area lies about 35 km to the northwest of Gunnet El-Bahariya
(Fig. 1). It is an Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) site where a number of petrified tree
trunks were found lying horizontally on the surface or half buried in sand (Fig. 2).

28°– Bahariya

B
S
G
E Asyut

RE
Farafra

D
N
ile

SE
26°– Ammonite

A
Hills
Dakhla
Kharga
Regenfeld

N ile
24°–

1
22°–| | | | | |
26° 28° 30° 32° 34° 36°

Fig. 1. Map of part of the south-western desert of Egypt. – B = Bir El-Obeiyid, E = El Qus Abo-
Said, G = Gunnet El-Bahariya (northern Gunna), S = study area. — Fig. 2. Log of Celastrinoxy-
lon celastroides (3 FO), Farafra Oasis Egypt. Standing knife = 15 cm. Photograph by Wagieh
El-Saadawi.

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Kamal El-Din — Cretaceous wood from Egypt 165

The lithostraphic section exposed in the studied area (Geological Survey of Egypt,
1982) is as follows:
Top
– Farafra Limestone (Lower Eocene)
White, hard, thick bedded including Alveoline sp. and Nummulites sp., well developed
at the top of El Qus Abo-Said plateau; 50 m.
– Esna Shale (Lower Eocene)
Greenish-gray to green, including white marl bands at the top; makes the middle part
of the scarp face of the El Qus Abo-Said and twisted northward to form the upstream
of Bir El-Obeiyid; 20 m.
– Tarawan Formation (Paleocene)
White to grayish, hard, thin bedded, forms 1/3 of the scarp which overlooks Bir
El-Obeiyid; 40 m.
– Khoman Chalk (Maastrichtian)
Dazzling, white chalky, thick bedded, forms the pediment surface of the northern
part of Bir El-Obeiyid; 15 m.
– Hefhuf Formation (Campanian)
Clays and dolomitic limestone, forms the relics of the floor of Bir El-Obeiyid in-
cluding fossil woods (Celastrinoxylon celastroides, Ficoxylon cretaceum and other
species); 10 m.
– Base unexposed
The specimens of Schenk (1883) and Kräusel (1939) are either the same age (Cam-
panian) or slightly older than the Farafra woods because their specimens came from
sediments belonging to the upper member of Nubia Formation (Quseir Clastic member),
which includes both Santonian and Campanian.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Wood specimens were cut off the seven tree trunks or loose specimens that were found at
the locality. Ground thin sections of cross, tangential and radial surfaces were prepared
according to the method described by Lacey (1963). Three specimens were identified as
Celastrinoxylon celastroides, two specimens were identified as Ficoxylon cretaceum,
and the remaining two specimens are of undetermined affinities (work in progress) and
differ from all previously described Egyptian Cretaceous woods.
Two of the C. celastroides specimens came from incomplete tree trunks; one was
about 10 m long and the other about 3 m long (Fig. 2). The third specimen, 20– 40 cm
in length, was found loose at the site, not far away from the trunks.
The two specimens of F. cretaceum were found loose at the site, and were about 20
and 25 cm long.
The specimens and the prepared slides are numbered and deposited in the palaeo-
botanical collection of the Department of Botany, Ain Shams University. Quantitative
features of the wood descriptions are represented by an average of the specimens sec-
tioned.

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166 IAWA Journal, Vol. 24 (2), 2003

3 4

5 6

Fig. 3 – 6. Celastrinoxylon celastroides (3 & 4: 2 FO, 5 & 6: 4 FO). – 3: Diffuse-porous wood

(CS). – 4: Vessels mainly arranged in tangential bands, axial parenchyma bands (CS). –
5: Scalariform perforation plate. – 6: Ray size, vessels without tyloses (TLS). — Scale bars =
10 µm for 3 – 5; 50 µm for 6.

Legends for Figures 3 –13: CS = cross section; RLS = radial section; TLS = tangential section.

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Kamal El-Din — Cretaceous wood from Egypt 167

7 8

9 10

Fig. 7–10. Celastrinoxylon celastroides (7 & 9: 2 FO, 8 & 10: 4 FO). – 7: Parenchyma bands
2 – 4 cells wide and fibres with thin walls (CS). – 8: Uniseriate rays (TLS). – 9: Rays composed of
mainly procumbent cells (RLS). – 10: “(Conspicuously) large rays” (TLS). — Scale bars = 50 µm.

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168 IAWA Journal, Vol. 24 (2), 2003

12

11 13

Fig. 11–13. Ficoxylon cretaceum (5 FO). – 11: Vessels in radial pairs and solitary, parenchyma
bands alternating with fibre bands (CS). – 12: Multiseriate rays (TLS). – 13: Rays composed of
procumbent cells (RLS). — Scale bars = 10 µm for 11; 50 µm for 12 & 13.

DESCRIPTION

The following descriptions use the IAWA List of Microscopic Features for Hardwood
Identification (IAWA Committee 1989).

Celastrinoxylon celastroides
Family: Celastraceae
Genus: Celastrinoxylon Schenk 1888
Species: C. celastroides (Schenk) Kräusel 1939
[Synonym: Rohlfsia celastroides Schenk 1883]
Growth rings distinct due to thick-walled fibres. Wood diffuse-porous (Fig. 3).
Vessels solitary and in radial multiples of 2 or 3, rounded in shape, mainly arranged in
tangential bands (Fig. 4). Tangential diameter 40–75 µm (mean 60 µm), radial diameter

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Kamal El-Din — Cretaceous wood from Egypt 169

80 –100 µm (mean 90 µm), vessels per sq. mm 25–50. Scalariform perforation plates
with 5–10 bars (Fig. 5), intervessel pits alternate and scalariform. Mean vessel element
length 345 µm. Tyloses absent (Fig. 6).
Axial parenchyma bands 2– 4 cells wide in cross section (Fig. 4, 7), 3–5 cells per
strand.
Rays uniseriate (Fig. 8), 3–18 cells, 40–255 µm high (mean 150 µm), composed of
mainly procumbent cells (Fig. 9), “(conspicuously) large rays” present (Fig. 10), mean
height 1205 µm, mean diameter at centre 540 µm.
Fibres septate with simple to minutely bordered pits; radially flattened with thin
walls (Fig. 7).
Samples: 2FO, 3FO, 4FO [FO = Farafra Oasis].

Ficoxylon cretaceum
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Ficoxylon Kaiser 1880
Species: Ficoxylon cretaceum Schenk 1883
[Synonyms: Ficoxylon schenki Blanckenhorn 1901; Nicolia oweni Carr. nur Schuster
1910; Ficoxylon cretaceum Chiarugi 1929].
Growth rings indistinct. Wood diffuse-porous.
Vessels mostly solitary, radial pairs few and multiples of 3 (or more) very rare ( Fig.
11). Vessels oval to rounded in outline in cross section (Fig. 11); tangential diameter
95–165 µm (mean 135 µm), radial diameter 240–290 µm (mean 260 µm). Vessels 4–8
per sq. mm. Perforation plates simple, intervessel pits alternate minute. Mean vessel
element length 385 µm. Tyloses present.
Axial parenchyma in regular bands more than six cells wide (Fig. 11) and vasicentric;
3–5 cells per strand.
Rays 2 or 3 cells wide (Fig. 12), 14–21 cells, 390–565 µm high (mean 470 µm), com-
posed of procumbent cells (Fig. 13).
Fibres in bands alternating with parenchyma bands (Fig. 11); septate with simple to
minutely bordered pits.
Samples: 5FO, 7FO.

COMPARISONS AND DISCUSSION

In Africa, the Celastraceae has one fossil wood genus (Celastrinoxylon) with two spe-
cies, C. celastroides and C. sp. (Dupéron-Laudoueneix & Dupéron 1995). The former is
reported from the Upper Cretaceous of Egypt and Cretaceous–Eocene of Ethiopia and
the latter is known from the Upper Cretaceous of only Egypt (Gabal Hefhuf, Bahariya
Oasis and Gabal Garra) (Kräusel 1939; Beauchamp & Lemoigne 1973; Dupéron-Lau-
doueneix & Dupéron 1995).
There are only slight differences in the descriptions of the Farafra samples and those
of C. celastroides from Egypt (Kräusel 1939) and Ethiopia (Beauchamp & Lemoigne
1973) (Table 1).

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170 IAWA Journal, Vol. 24 (2), 2003

Table 1
Vessel features Kräusel Beauchamp & Lemoigne Farafra
(1939) (1973) samples
Tangential diameter (µm) 25 – 60 60–100 40–75
Radial diameter of vessels (µm) 60 – 95 — 80–100
Multiples 2–3 2–5 2–3
Number per sq. mm 25 – 40 25 – 45 in less dense zone, 25–50
75–130 in dense zone

In Africa, the family Moraceae has two fossil wood genera, Ficoxylon (5 species) and
Myrianthoxylon (3 species): 1) Ficoxylon blankenhorni Kräusel: Egypt and Ethiopia;
2) F. cretaceum Schenk: Egypt, Ethiopia, Mali (Sudanese Sahara) and Tunisia; 3) F.
guettarense Fessler-Vrolant: Tunisia; 4) ? F. melahense Louvet: Libya; 5) ? F. sp.:
Egypt and Ethiopia; 6) Myrianthoxylon chaloneri Lemoigne: Ethiopia; 7) M. coppensi
Koeniguer: Chad and Libya; 8) M. sp.: Ethiopia (see Dupéron-Laudoueneix & Dupéron
1995).
Localities in Egypt from which Ficoxylon cretaceum has been reported are: Gabal
Garra west of Aswan (Cretaceous), Qattamiya, zone between Cairo and Suez, Wadi
Giaffara (Oligocene), west of Giza Pyramids and Kom El-Khashab (Oligocene–
Miocene), Abou Roasch, Bir Lebuk, Wadi Faregh (Miocene) (Kräusel 1939; Boureau
1949).
There are slight differences in quantitative features reported for Ficoxylon cretaceum
(Table 2).

Table 2
Features Kräusel Lemoigne Fessler- Farafra
(1939) et al. (1974) Vrolant samples
(1979)
Vessel tangential diameter (µm) 80 – 260 90–350 70–136 95–165
Vessels per sq.mm 6 –12 2–8 4–9 4–8
Mean vessel element length (µm) 400 — 300 385
Ray cells in height 12 – 20 up to 30 — 14–21

Both C. celastroides and F. cretaceum had large amounts of parenchyma as do many

other late Cretaceous woods (Wheeler et al. 1987; Wheeler & Lehman 2000).
Celastrinoxylon celastroides (in this paper) has a mean tangential diameter of vessels
less than 100 µm (60 µm), 25–50 vessels per sq.mm and scalariform perforations. These
anatomical features characterize the temperate trees and shrubs (Wheeler & Baas 1991,
1993; Wheeler 2001). Ficoxylon cretaceum (in this paper) has diffuse-porous wood,
no growth rings, medium-sized vessels, a low number of vessels per sq. mm (4–8) and
abundant parenchyma. These characters often are associated with tropical aseasonal

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Kamal El-Din — Cretaceous wood from Egypt 171

conditions (Wheeler & Baas 1991, 1993; Wheeler 2001). Also, the V values for
C. celastroides (= 1.6) and F. cretaceum (= 22.5) are higher. Woods with high V values
are inferred to have grown in areas of low water stress (Wheeler 1991).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks are due to Dr. Wagieh El-Saadawi, Professor of Botany, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams Uni-
versity and Dr. Said Ghanem, Lecturer in Botany, Faculty of Science, Benha University for collecting
the specimens from the Farafra Oasis. Thanks also to Dr. Wagieh El-Saadawi for useful criticism and
continuous help, to Dr. Rifaat Osman, Assistant Professor of Geology, Faculty of Science, Benha
University for all valuable geological information which he willingly supplied, and to Dr. Rawhia Abd
El-Latif, Assistant Professor of Botany, Faculty of Science (Girls), Al-Azhar University for photo-
graphic facilities.

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