Magnoliaephyllum KRASSER ex SEWARD , 1927

Greguš, Josef & Kvaček, Jiří, 2015, Revision Of Cenomanian Flora From The Maletín Sandstone, Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae Series B 71 (3 - 4), pp. 315-364 : 327-328

Magnoliaephyllum KRASSER ex SEWARD, 1927

T y p e: Magnolia alternans HEER in CAPELLINI et HEER, 1866, p. 20, pl. 3, fig. 2–4, pl. 4, fig. 1–2 = Magnoliaephyllum alternans (HEER in CAPELLINI et HEER) SEWARD, 1927, p. 120.

D i s c u s s i o n. The genus name Magnoliaephyllum was used for the first time by Krasser (1896) in his publication on Cretaceous fossil flora from Kunštát in Moravia. But it was published with a question mark, and its type species was missing. Due to this, the genus name Magnoliaephyllum sensu Krasser (1896) is invalid. Genus Magnoliaephyllum was validated for the first time by Seward (1927), who assigned the species Magnolia alternans HEER in CAPELLINI et HEER to this genus, which was described from the Cretaceous locality Tekamah, Nebraska ( Capellini and Heer 1866). It is not possible to use the genus Magnoliphyllum CONWENTZ for determination of our specimens, because the Tertiary genus Magnoliphyllum balticum CONWENTZ ( Conwentz 1886) was first described as a Laurus princeps HEER , and it is formally assigned to the genus Laurophyllum from the family Lauraceae ( Krassilov 1979) . The genus Magnoliaestrum GOEPPERT from Java Tertiary differs from genus Magnoliaephyllum in apparent and regular second order venation. Magnoliaephyllum often has apparent third order venation, and visible intersecondary veins ( Goeppert 1854).

A number of leaves similar to the recent genus Magnolia LINNAEUS was described from Cretaceous. Fritel (1913) recognized that recent magnolia leaves differ considerably in shape as opposed to a quite stable venation pattern. With regard to this fact, Fritel (1913) assigned a number of Cretaceous leaves to the species Magnolia alternans HEER in CAPELLINI et HEER. Fritel (1913) assigned there Ficus LINNAEUS ( F. krausiana HEER ), Daphnophyllum HEER ( D. crassinervium HEER , D. ellipticum HEER and D. fraasii HEER ), Juglans LINNAEUS ( J. crassipes HEER ), Persea MILLER ( P. hayana LESQUEREUX ), Magnolia LINNAEUS ( M. amplifolia HEER , M. capellinii HEER , M. speciosa HEER ) and other ( Fritel 1913, p. 289).