Abies aff. alba MILL., 1756

Denk, Thomas, Sami, Marco, Teodoridis, Vasilis & Martinetto, Edoardo, 2022, The Late Early Pleistocene Flora Of Oriolo, Faenza (Italy): Assembly Of The Modern Forest Biome, Fossil Imprint 78 (1), pp. 217-262 : 221

Abies aff. alba MILL., 1756

Text-fig. 2c

M a t e r i a l. Oriolo MSF 988.

D e s c r i p t i o n. Cone scale, 15 mm long, 19 mm wide, wedge-shaped, apically rounded.

R e m a r k s. The cone scale from Oriolo is markedly similar to the extant European Abies alba . According to Linares (2011), an Abies alba ancestor inhabited Italy at least since the Pliocene. The second species of Abies in the modern flora of Italy, the Sicilian endemic A. nebrodensis MATTEI may have originated through a past hybridization event or through genetic drift resulting from the prolonged isolation of southern populations during post-glacial times ( Linares 2011).

Figures

Text-fig. 2. a, b: Pinus aff. peuce cones. a: Oriolo, MSF 643. b: Tebano, MSF 1021. c: Abies aff. alba cone scale, Oriolo MSF 988. d, e: Tsuga chiarugii cones. d: Oriolo MSF 638. e: Oriolo MSF 979. f, h: Bambusa lugdunensis leaves and leafy axis. f: Oriolo MSF 937. h: Oriolo MSF 651. g: Modern leaf of Yushania for comparison (NMNS Cleared Leaf Database specimen U1347). i: Phragmites sp. Oriolo MSF n.n. Scale bars 50 mm (a, b, h, i), 10 mm (c–g).