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The genus Surangea Chitaley et Sheikh, based on permineralized specimens from the Deccan Intertrappean Beds of central India, was originally considered to represent a fern megasporangium. Reexamination of original material and new specimens has revealed that the structures are capsular fruits with well-defined seeds, rather than megasporangia. We describe Surangea fruits in detail, based on peels and micro-CT scanning, and document its distribution among multiple localities of the Deccan Intertrappean Beds. The fruits are pentacarpellate septicidal capsules with ~8–12 seeds per locule. The seeds are prominently ornamented with parallel ridges and have a curved embryo/endosperm cavity and a prominent aril. This set of features indicates eudicotyledonous affinities for Surangea. In particular, the combination of septicidal capsules, axile placentation and arillate campylotropus seeds suggests affinity with the order Myrtales, but it does not fit cleanly within an extant family. Surangea fruits add to the diversity of angiosperms known from this late Maastrichtian flora. It joins several other fruit types known from the Deccan flora that do not fall neatly into extant families, possibly representing parts of an endemic community that succumbed to environmental stress associated K-Pg boundary events and/or subsequent northward rafting of the Indian subcontinent. 

Abstract— Fossil fruits of Symplocos (Ericales: Symplocaceae) are here recognized from the Pliocene of Guasca, Colombia, based on specimens formerly attributed to Cordia (Cordiaceae, Boraginales). Symplocos vera (Berry) comb. nov. is represented by 19 lignitized fruits. The fossils are recognized as belonging to Symplocos primarily by their woody endocarps that are apically truncate and that possess 3 to 5 apical germination pores and locules, and a central vascular canal extending the length of the endocarp. In several key characters they are highly congruent with the endocarps of the extant Neotropical clade S. ser. Symplocos . Some of the extant species in the series are variably 3- to 5-locular; 4-locular endocarps are otherwise rare in Symplocos , and 5-locular endocarps appear to be unique to this series. Symplocos vera is the only specifically named record of fossil Symplocos fruits with accessible voucher specimens from South America. The younger Neogene age of the fossils relative to those attributed to S. ser. Symplocos from the late Eocene of Texas, along with a report of Colombian fossil endocarps from the middle Miocene, supports the North America to South America migration inferred for this clade from molecular phylogenetic data. 

Summary Fossil discoveries can transform our understanding of plant diversification over time and space. Recently described fossils in many plant families have pushed their known records farther back in time, pointing to alternative scenarios for their origin and spread.Here, we describe two new Eocene fossil berries of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) from the Esmeraldas Formation in Colombia and the Green River Formation in Colorado (USA). The placement of the fossils was assessed using clustering and parsimony analyses based on 10 discrete and five continuous characters, which were also scored in 291 extant taxa.The Colombian fossil grouped with members of the tomatillo subtribe, and the Coloradan fossil aligned with the chili pepper tribe. Along with two previously reported early Eocene fossils from the tomatillo genus, these findings indicate that Solanaceae were distributed at least from southern South America to northwestern North America by the early Eocene.Together with two other recently discovered Eocene berries, these fossils demonstrate that the diverse berry clade and, in turn, the entire nightshade family, is much older and was much more widespread in the past than previously thought.