| Abstract Detail
Paleobotanical Section Ramírez Peña, Dora L. [1], Hernandez-Castillo, Genaro R. [1], Stockey, Ruth A. [2], Beard, Graham [3]. A new ovulate cone (Cupressaceae: Sequoioideae) from the Appian Way (Eocene), British Columbia, Canada. The Appian Way locality on Vancouver Island, British Columbia has yielded several cupressaceous fossil remains such as: shoots, pollen cones and ovulate cones. This paper describes one of two ovulate cones found at Appian Way. The permineralized fossil cone comes from an Eocene calcareous concretion and was studied using the cellulose acetate peel technique. The cone is 1.2-1.6 cm long, 0.8-1.2 cm wide, terminal, solitary, ovoid, with up to 16, decussately-arranged, cone scale complexes. Each cone scale complex is composed of an epidermis, ground tissue, one row of adaxial vascular bundles, and one row of abaxial resin canals. A thick cuticle covers rectangular epidermal cells. The ground tissue is made up of both parenchymatous and sclerenchymatous cells. Vascular bundles range from 9 to 17 and are represented by secondary xylem. Resin canals range from 5 to 12 and have an epithelial lining. Individual cone scale complexes bear up to four adaxial seeds. Seeds are small, ovoid and winged. The cone is borne terminally on a shoot with decussately arranged leaves. The shoot is 2 cm long and 0.7 cm wide, with endarch primary xylem, a parenchymatous pith, pycnoxylic wood, uniseriate rays, and a small amount of periderm. Leaves are 1.0 mm long, 0.3 mm wide, needle-like to falcate with an epidermis, mesophyll, one resin canal and a single vascular bundle. Characters such as cone and cone scale shape and size and phyllotaxy combined with falcate leaves of the attached shoot resemble those of Cupressaceae: Subfamily Sequoioideae. The cone contrasts with previously described species by having decussate cone scales, few adaxial vascular bundles, numerous abaxial resin canals, four adaxial seeds and falcate subtending leaves. This cone with attached leaves expands our knowledge of diversity of North American sequioid Cupressaceae and may serve as a basis for future whole plant reconstruction.
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1 - Universidad del Mar, Instituto de Recursos, Carr. a Oaxaca via Sola de Vega Km 1.5, Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, 71980, Mexico
2 - University of Alberta, Department of Biological Sciences, Biological Sciences Centre, Cw 405, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E9, Canada
3 - Vancouver Island Paleontological Museum, 151 West Sunningdale, Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, V9K 1K7, Canada
Keywords:
Cupressaceae
Ovulate cone
Eocene
Canada
Permineralized.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for BSA Sections
Session: 71
Location: Superior A/Cliff Lodge - Level C
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Time: 2:15 PM
Number: 71001
Abstract ID:698 |
