The botanical identity and facies distribution of fossil charcoal is described from Middle to Late Cenomanian (90–94 Ma) fluvial to estuarine units at Pecínov quarry, near Prague, Czech Republic. Braided alluvial facies associations contain charred conifer woods (family Pinaceae) possibly derived from upland forest fires, and abundant charred angiosperm woods, flowers and inflorescences (families Lauraceae and ?Platanaceae) derived from riparian gallery forest fires (Unit 2). Retrogradational coastal salt marsh facies associations contain abundant charred conifer wood (families Cheirolepidiaceae and Cupressaceae/Taxodiaceae) derived from fires in halophytic backswamp forest, and rare pinaceous charred cones and lauraceous angiosperm wood washed downstream from fires further inland (Units 3–4). Progradational coastal facies associations within an estuary mouth setting contain abundant charred conifer wood (family Cupressaceae/Taxodiaceae), common taxodiaceous conifer and angiosperm leaves, fern rachises, and lycopsid stems derived from fires in mesic backswamp taxodiaceous forests and supra-tidal fern-lycopsid thickets (Unit 5). Growth rings in angiosperm and conifer woods, leaf physiognomy and computer models indicate that climate was equable, warm and humid, but that there was a short annual dry season; most fires probably occurred during these annual drought periods. The abundance of charcoal and the diversity of taxa preserved in this state indicate that nearly all plant communities were fire-prone. Physiognomically, the Pecínov flora resembles present-day seasonally-dry subtropical forests where fires are a common occurrence.

The leaf longevity and seasonal timing of leaf abscission within a plant community is closely related to climate, a phenomenon referred to as leaf phenology. In this paper the leaf phenology of some mid-Cretaceous (late Albian) forests which grew at latitude of 75° S on Alexander Island, Antarctica, is analysed. Five independent techniques for determining leaf longevity are applied to the fossil remains of each of the canopy-forming trees. These techniques utilize: (1) the anatomical character of growth rings in trunk woods, (2) leaf trace persistence in juvenile branch and stem woods, (3) leaf physiognomy, (4) comparison with nearest living relatives, and (5) leaf taphonomy. The application of techniques 1–5 suggests that the araucarian and podocarp conifers, which comprised more than 90% of the canopy-forming vegetation, were evergreen with leaf retention times in excess of 5–13 years. The application of techniques 3–5 to rare taxodioid conifers indicates the existence of both evergreen and deciduous habits in this group, whilst both ginkgos and taeniopterids, which are locally abundant, are interpreted as possessing a deciduous habit. The polar forests of Alexander Island were therefore dominantly evergreen. Preliminary analysis of five other mid-Cretaceous polar forests suggests the presence of dominantly evergreen vegetation in Australia and Antarctica, and mixed evergreen–deciduous vegetation in Alaska, northern Russia and New Zealand. Cold month mean temperature probably exerted the largest influence on the leaf phenology at each of these forest sites.

The British Isles lay at a palaeolatitude of 4°S during the Early Carboniferous (Courceyan–Arundian) period. This paper examines fossil gymnosperm wood from ten localities in western Ireland and southern Scotland in order to analyse palaeoclimate. Fifty-two percent of the 77 fossil wood specimens studied exhibit growth rings that possess subtle, discontinuous ring boundaries and ring increments of narrow but variable width. These growth rings are qualitatively and quantitatively analysed, and are shown to bear a close similarity to growth rings in modern araucarian conifer woods; these araucarian growth rings are formed in response to tropical rainfall seasonality linked to monsoonal circulation. The findings of this study therefore support earlier palaeoclimatic interpretations, based on sedimentological evidence, which suggest that the British Isles experienced a monsoonal climate during the Early Carboniferous (Courceyan–Arundian) period.