Assemblages of spores and pollen are recorded from volcanogenic sediments immediately above oceanic basement at drillsites on the Ninety East Ridge, Indian Ocean, and are believed to reflect the vegetation of islands which were emergent along the ridge crest in the Paleocene and Oligocene. A total of seventy one form-species has been identified from Deep Sea Drilling Project sites 214 and 254. Twenty of these are instituted as new species, and include Arecipites insularis, Cicatricosisporites teniatus, Appendiciaporites crassicarinatus, Deltoidospora challengeri, Echiperiporites rotundus, Myrtaceidites aporosus, M. oceanicus, Polypodiisporites rotundus, Punctatosporites indicus, P. varigranulatus, Rhoipites grandis, R. isoreticulatus, R. microluminus, Sparganiaceaepollenites irregularis, Stoverisporites verrucolabrus, Striatricolporites mulleri, Tricolpites cryptoporites, T. discus, T. oceanicus and Tubulifloridites paleocenicus. Assemblages from both sites have much in common with Early Tertiary microfloras from Australia and New Zealand; of the total number of form-species, forty-two have been previously described from Australia, seventeen from New Zealand. Families occurring in the island floras which have a general southern distribution include Myrtaceae, Proteaceae, Restionaceae, Gunneraceae, Chloranthaceae, Araucariaceae and Podocarpaceae. Although reconstructions of the Indian Ocean suggest that the island sites were closer to southern landmasses than they are now, it seems that they were truly oceanic in position, and establishment of the floras must have occurred through long-distance dispersal mechanisms.