SUMMARY

Lauraceae were an almost ubiquitous component of vegetation in the fluvial environment of the Early Miocene of the St Bathans Paleovalley and the deltaic Gore Coal Measures of southern New Zealand. Twenty-five species are recognised here, far higher than the three species which exist in the northern parts of New Zealand today. The genera recognised include Beilschmiedia, Cryptocarya, Endiandra, and Litsea. Several unidentified taxa do not resemble any known extant taxa and may well represent extinct genera. Both regions had a distinctive suite of dominant Lauraceae taxa, with only a little overlap.