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Flowers, fruits, seeds, and pollen of Landeenia gen. nov., an extinct sapindalean genus from the Eocene of Wyoming
Author(s) -
Manchester Steven R.,
Hermsen Elizabeth J.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.2307/2656842
Subject(s) - calyx , biology , gynoecium , pollen , botany , genus , stamen , inflorescence , incertae sedis
The new genus Landeenia is recognized on the basis of flowers, pollen, infructescences, fruits, and seeds from the middle Eocene of southwestern and northwestern Wyoming. Landeenia aralioides (MacGinitie) comb.nov. has cymose inflorescences with actinomorphic, bisexual flowers, a pentamerous calyx, about ten stamens, and a superior gynoecium of ∼18 carpels sharing a single style. The fruits are globose to oblate, loculicidally dehiscent capsules, with a persistent calyx, and contain flat, elliptical seeds that are surrounded by a small wing. Pollen removed from the anthers is tricolpate with finely striate sculpture. Although clearly dicotyledonous, the combination of characters found in Landeenia is not known in any modern genus. The familial affinities of the plant, though certainly not with the Araliaceae as previously thought, remain uncertain. However, the combination of characters is consistent with treatment as a member of the Sapindales. The fossil material is thus assigned to the rank of Sapindales‐Incertae sedis.