Abstract
A detailed survey of the Late Eocene flora of the diatomite of Kučlín, the Trupelník Hill in North Bohemia, České středohoří Mountains, is given based on the morphological study of most of the so far published macrofossil records since Ettingshausen's pioneer study and many newly acquired taxa. Both extinct and some modern genera represented mostly by leaf morphotypes and less commonly by fruits and seeds have been encountered.
They belong to the ferns (Osmundaceae, Thelypteridaceae, Blechnaceae etc.), conifers (Cupressaceae, Doliostrobaceae) and prevailingly to Angiosperms. Representatives of e.g., Nymphaeaceae, Magnoliaceae, Lauraceae, Platanaceae, Ulmaceae, Fagaceae, Juglandaceae, Fabaceae and some more exotic families such as Icacinaceae, Simaroubaceae and Rutaceae are most numerous, while many belong to extinct groups not assignable to any modern family (e.g., Raskya).
A considerable part of fossil taxa is not assignable to the natural system at all. In sum the flora contains according to this survey 95 taxa based on foliage and 34 taxa based on fruits and seeds.
The plant assemblage of Kučlín includes both Eocene markers (Hooleya, Byttneriopsis) and a number of elements that survived till the Oligocene (Eotrigonobalanus) and Miocene (Platanus neptuni). Palaeoenvironmental and climatical proxies based on angiosperm leaf record are presented here and compared with other nearby sites of Eocene and Oligocene age.
Such comparisons add information on the climatic development of central Europe in this time interval.