In Europe, fossil fruits and seeds of Rhodoleia (Hamamelidaceae) have been described from the Upper Cretaceous to the Miocene, whereas no fossil record of Rhodoleia has been reported in Asia, where the modern species occur. Herein, 21 fossil leaves identified as Rhodoleia tengchongensis sp. nov. are described from the Upper Pliocene of Tengchong County, Yunnan Province, Southwest China. The fossils exhibit elliptic lamina with entire margins, simple brochidodromous major secondary veins, mixed percurrent intercostal tertiary veins, and looped exterior tertiaries. The leaf cuticle is characterized by pentagonal or hexagonal cells, stellate multicellular trichomes, and paracytic stomata. The combination of leaf architecture and cuticular characteristics suggests that the fossil leaves should be classified into the genus Rhodoleia. The fossil distributions indicate that the genus Rhodoleia might originate from Central Europe, and that migrated to Asia prior to the Late Pliocene. Additionally, insect damage is investigated, and different types of damage, such as hole feeding, margin feeding, surface feeding, and galling, are observed on the thirteen fossil leaves. Based on the damage frequencies for the fossil and extant leaves, the specific feeding behavior of insects on Rhodoleia trees appears to have been established as early as the Late Pliocene. The high occurrence of Rhodoleia insect herbivory may attract the insect-foraging birds, thereby increasing the probability of pollination.

Twenty-one fossil foliage, identified as Fokienia shengxianensis sp. nov. (Cupressaceae), were collected from the upper Miocene Shengxian Formation in Tiantai and Ninghai counties, Zhejiang Province of eastern China. These fossils can likely be distinguished from other extant genera in the family Cupressaceae s.l. except Fokienia by leaf external morphology alone. Foliar cuticular comparison with the only modern species in this genus, Fokienia hodginsii Henry et Thomas, further suggests that the present fossil species closely resembles the modern counterpart. Paleoecologically, the occurrence of Fokienia from the Shengxian Formation appears to support that the fossil site was covered by subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest and under warm and humid conditions during the late Miocene, consistent with evidence from previously published fossil plants.

Eight fossil leaves identified as Exbucklandia tengchongensis sp. nov. (Hamamelidaceae) were collected from the Pliocene Mangbang Formation in Tengchong, Yunnan Province, Southwest China. The fossil leaves are characterized by the overall rounded lamina with entire margin, actinodromous venation, and cyclocytic stomata, which suggest the affinity within the genus Exbucklandia, particularly with E. populnea. A survey on the cuticles of the sun and shade leaves of modern E. populnea indicates that the shade leaves generally possess more pronounced undulate anticlinal cell walls and a much lower stomatal density than the sun leaves. Two morphotypes, i.e. sun vs. shade types, of the fossil leaves were therefore recognized. The distribution of the modern Exbucklandia suggests that the genus lives under a warm climate with a mean annual temperature (MAT) from 13 °C to 27 °C and a mean annual precipitation (MAP) from 800 mm to 2500 mm. Hence, E. tengchongensis might also live under a similar climatic condition in the Pliocene. Leaf margin analysis on the Tengchong flora supports this result. The little change of Neogene MAT in Southwest China is therefore supported.

The genus Tsuga is comprised of eight extant species found in North America and East Asia and four species represented by fossils from Europe and Japan. This study presents the first phylogenetic analysis based on structural, biochemical, and molecular sequence data. Characters obtained from published and unpublished literature were combined with new morphological characters from seeds, seedlings, and leaf cuticle material. Results from parsimony analyses of these characters differed from the published molecular based phylogeny. The non-molecular based phylogeny resolves two separate clades, a North American and an Asian, but did not group the western North American species, as in the molecular based analysis. Character states were traced on the trees to interpret character evolution. The combined analysis resulted in a phylogeny that differed from the previously published molecular tree by resolving a clade between T. caroliniana and T. diversifolia and placing T. dumosa outside of the Asian clade.