Paleoenkianthus

Name

Paleoenkianthus

Rank

Genus

Authors (Pub.)

Crepet W. L. Nixon K. C.  

Publication

Late Cretaceous fossil flowers of ericalean affinity [1993/6]

Journal

American Journal of Botany

Volume

80

Issue

6

Page number

617

Year

1993

Parent Taxon

[Family] Ericaceae

Fossil Status

flowers

Type

Paleoenkianthus sayrevillensis

Diagnosis

Flowers (buds) bisexual, minute, 1.9 mm long x 1 mm wide. Calyx of ca. 5 imbricate sepals, basally fused, the adaxial (inner) surface with an indumentum of slender curly unicellular trichomes, abaxial surface with cavities suggestive of bases of broken trichomes or glandular structures. Petals 5, valvate, connate toward the base, free in upper half. Ovary superior, 1.2 mm long x 0.5 mm wide, syncarpous, 4-carpellate, each carpel longitudinally fluted for its entire length and irregularly lobed near the base. Styles 4, slightly unequal, ad nate for most of length, slightly curved; stigmas terminal, minute. Stamens 8, alternating with ridges formed by the fluted ovary, anther and filament well differentiated, the filaments terete, slender above and expanded at the bases. Anthers ca. 0.2 mm x 0.2 mm, strongly 2-lobed, tetrasporangiate, inverted and U-shaped, the filament attached between the 2 lobes at the base (pseudoterminal end). Awns 2-3 on each side at pseudoterminal end of anther, dehiscence apparently by pseudoterminal slits or pores. Pollen prolate, 16.2 x 12 /lm, tricolporate with developed geniculi, and reticulate micromorphology. Pollen grains clumped, grains connected by threads similar in diameter and ornamentation to the muri and sometimes coalescent with them. Fruit a loculicidal capsule ca. 5-6 mm long x 3 mm wide, 4-valved, ovoid-ovate, subtended by persistent calyx. Seeds unknown.