Platanaceae) and Associated Pistillate Fructifications from the Eocene of Vanco
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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249158822 Anatomically Preserved Staminate Inflorescences of Gynoplatananthus oysterbayensis gen. et sp. nov. (Platanaceae) and Associated Pistillate Fructifications from the Eocene of Vanco... Article in International Journal of Plant Sciences · May 2006 DOI: 10.1086/500956 CITATIONS READS 35 119 3 authors, including: Ruth Stockey Graham Beard Oregon State University Qualicum Beach Museum 259 PUBLICATIONS 5,722 CITATIONS 46 PUBLICATIONS 781 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Crataceous taiwanioids, Araucaria, Meliaceae fruits, Sloanea fruits View project All content following this page was uploaded by R. A Stockey on 06 February 2018. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Int. J. Plant Sci. 167(3):591–600. 2006. Ó 2006 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 1058-5893/2006/16703-0019$15.00 ANATOMICALLY PRESERVED STAMINATE INFLORESCENCES OF GYNOPLATANANTHUS OYSTERBAYENSIS GEN. ET SP. NOV. (PLATANACEAE) AND ASSOCIATED PISTILLATE FRUCTIFICATIONS FROM THE EOCENE OF VANCOUVER ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA Randal A. Mindell,* Ruth A. Stockey,1,* and Graham Beardy *Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada; and yVancouver Island Paleontology Museum, Qualicum Beach, British Columbia V9K 1K7, Canada Anatomically preserved specimens of globose staminate and pistillate inflorescences belonging to Platanaceae have been found in concretions at the Eocene Appian Way fossil locality on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The structure of inflorescences and individual flowers, vascular architecture, and pollen morphology were examined. Flowers occur on globose unisexual heads and are supplied at their bases by branching pentagonal vascular traces. Flowers of staminate inflorescences have a well-developed perianth with at least two whorls of tepals. Five stamens with elongate anthers surround a single whorl of five (rarely four) free, nonfunctional carpels that are ovate in longitudinal section and roughly triangular in transverse section. In situ tricolpate pollen 16 mm in polar diameter is found in the anthers. This same pollen is found among the persistent styles of larger pistillate fructifications. The pistillate flowers are identical in structure to staminate flowers but have five fully developed carpels, and they lack stamens. Fruits are glabrous achenes up to 8 mm long. Staminate inflorescences compare most closely to those of Platananthus sp., but the regular co- occurrence of both stamens and rudimentary carpels in the same flower has not previously been reported in the fossil record, and, thus, these specimens have been placed in a new genus and species, Gynoplatananthus oysterbayensis. These platanaceous inflorescences add to our knowledge of the Appian Way flora and provide evidence that rudimentary carpels are an ancient feature within staminate flowers of Platanaceae. Keywords: Eocene, Platanus, Platananthus, Platanaceae, Proteales. Introduction rescence structure to extant species within the group, specif- ically, those now placed within the family Altingiaceae Known from Early Cretaceous sediments and abundant in (Nixon and Poole 2003). However, recent molecular phyloge- the Tertiary, fossils of platanaceous affinity attest to a past netic analyses (Chase et al. 1993; Hoot et al. 1999; Soltis diversity that outstrips that known in extant species (Crane et al. 2003) have placed Platanaceae in the Proteales as sister 1989; Pigg and Stockey 1991; Kvacˇek and Manchester 2004). group to either Proteaceae or Nelumbonaceae. So far, this un- Modern Platanus L. species are distinguished by their pedun- expected and counterintuitive relationship has been supported culate, globose, unisexual inflorescences and alternating pal- by embryological studies (Floyd et al. 1999) and leaf cuticular mately lobed leaves (Kubitzki 1993). The one exceptional morphology (Carpenter et al. 2005), and both Hoot et al. species, Platanus kerrii Gagnepain from Vietnam, has a sessile (1999) and Soltis et al. (2003) have used the fossil record of inflorescence and entire elliptical leaves. One species, Platanus Platanaceae as evidence for a relationship with Proteaceae. orientalis L., is endemic to Mediterranean Europe, while the Crane (1989) and Crabtree (1987) have reviewed the di- remaining eight taxa are found in North and Central America, versity of Cretaceous platanoid leaves, which are a common with the highest diversity found in Mexico (Nixon and Poole component of North American floras from that period. The 2003). Interspecific hybridization is common, and the common fossil record for the family extends into the Early Cretaceous. London plane tree, Platanus 3 acerifolia (Aiton) Willdenow, is Leaf compressions (Hickey and Doyle 1977) and inflores- grown as an ornamental throughout much of the Northern cences (Friis et al. 1988; Crane et al. 1993; Pedersen et al. Hemisphere (Kaul 1997). 1994) of platanaceous affinity are known from the Albian of Traditionally, the family Platanaceae was placed in the poly- eastern North America. Three-dimensionally preserved inflo- phyletic ‘‘Amentiferae’’ (Thorne 1973), and until recently, it rescences from the Late Cretaceous of Sweden (Friis et al. was grouped within the Hamamelidales (Cronquist 1981; 1988) and North America (Friis et al. 1988; Magallo´ n- Schwarzwalder and Dilcher 1991; Takhtajan 1997), based Puebla et al. 1997) have shown characters unknown in ex- mainly on gross morphological similarities in leaf and inflo- tant Platanaceae, specifically, elongate tepals and a regular, invariable arrangement of floral parts. These characters are 1 Author for correspondence; e-mail [email protected]. also known in the Cretaceous to Tertiary genera Platananthus Manuscript received September 2005; revised manuscript received November Manchester and Macginicarpa Manchester, the Paleogene 2005. genus of pistillate fructifications (Manchester 1986), whereas 591 This content downloaded from 128.193.152.000 on February 06, 2018 14:05:57 PM All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c). 592 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PLANT SCIENCES extant Platanus have a highly variable merosity and diminu- Type Species—Gynoplatananthus oysterbayensis tive ‘‘petals’’ (Boothroyd 1930). Mindell, Stockey et Beard sp. nov. (Figs. 1, 2) This article describes permineralized staminate inflores- Specific diagnosis. Inflorescence staminate, diameter 8– cences and pistillate fructifications from the Eocene Appian 9.5 mm with more than 40 flowers, tightly packed. Flowers Way locality of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The plat- up to 4.0 mm long, 1.1 mm wide. Tepals spatulate, inner- anaceous specimens show floral anatomy and, thus, can be most whorl fused at base. Stamens in single whorl. Rudimen- useful in the interpretation of floral evolution within the fam- tary carpels ovoid to subtriangular, styles lacking. Pollen ily. These are the first of many angiosperm fossils that will be (14–)16(–18) mm polar diameter, (12)–13–(14) mm equatorial described from the locality. diameter. Holotype. AW 263 Fbot, Gtop (UAPC-ALTA). Material and Methods Paratypes. AW 120 A, Btop, AW 103 Gbot, Htop, AW 289 Etop. Three pistillate fructifications and four staminate inflores- Stratigraphic position and age. Oyster Bay Formation, cences were found in rocks collected from the Appian Way Middle Eocene. fossil locality south of Campbell River on the east coast of Locality. Appian Way locality, south of Campbell River, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada (49°549420N, British Columbia, Canada (49E 569000N, 125E 119150W; 125°109400W; UTM 10U CA 5531083N 343646E). So far UTM 10U CA 433331). this locality has yielded decapod crustaceans (Schweitzer et al. Etymology. Generic name, derived from the Latin gyno, 2003), polypore fungi (Smith et al. 2004), gleicheniaceous refers to the gynoecium present in functionally staminate (Mindell et al. 2005) and schizaeaceous (Trivett et al. 2002, flowers, and Platananthus, a fossil genus encompassing five- 2006) fern remains, taxodiaceous pollen cones (Hernandez- parted staminate inflorescences with elongate tepals. The spe- Castillo et al. 2005), and more than 40 taxa of dispersed an- cific epithet oysterbayensis refers to Oyster Bay, Vancouver giosperm fruits and seeds (Little et al. 2001). Plant remains Island, the locality from which the specimens were collected. occur in marine calcareous concretions in a sandy siltstone Description. The four isolated staminate inflorescences matrix. Palynological investigations of the locality have dated occur within the concretions. Inflorescences are commonly these shallow marine sediments as late Paleocene to early abraded with deposits of pyrite found within pollen grains Eocene (Sweet 1997). Using an assortment of fossil decapods and between floral organs. No peduncles have been observed, (Schweitzer et al. 2003), mollusks, and shark teeth, Haggart so the type of inflorescence attachment (sessile or pedun- et al. (1997) gave these rocks a middle to late Eocene age. culate) is unknown. The compound globose inflorescences Stratigraphic studies are currently being conducted at the site measure 9.0–9.5 mm in maximum diameter and comprise (J. W. Haggart, personal communication, 2006). numerous (at least 40) flowers centrally attached to a scle- The fossiliferous concretions were cut