Cinnamomum polymorphum (A. BRAUN) HEER

Dedicated in memory of the late FrantiŠek Holý (1935 - 1984), an eminent Czech palaeobotanist, Holý, František, Kvaček, Zlatko & Teodoridis, Vasilis, 2012, A Review Of The Early Miocene Mastixioid Flora Of The Kristina Mine At Hrádek Nad Nisou In North Bohemia (The Czech Republic), Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae Series B 68 (3 - 4), pp. 53-118 : 63-64

Cinnamomum polymorphum (A. BRAUN) HEER plexus

Pl. 2, figs 1-7, pl. 5, figs 1-2, pl. 11, figs 10-12

1845 Ceanothus polymorphus A. BRAUN , p. 171 (Öhningen).

1847 Ceanothus bilinicus UNGER , p. 145, pl. 49, fig. 9 (Bílina).

1851 Daphnogene polymorpha (A. BRAUN) ETTINGSHAUSEN , p. 16, pl. 2, figs 23-25 (Hernals).

1855 Camphora polymorpha (A. BRAUN) HEER , p. 112, pl. 1, fig. 11 (Öhningen).

1856 Cinnamomum polymorphum (A. BRAUN) HEER , p. 88, pl. 91, figs 11 c-d, pl. 93, figs 25-28, pl. 94, figs 1-16 (Öhningen).

1960 Homalanthus costatus MAI , p. 18, pl. 4, figs 25-28, pl. 5, fig. 3 (Wiesa).

1977a Cinnamomum zlatkoi HOLÝ , p. 115, pl. 3, figs 14-16 (Hrádek/N., Kristina Mine).

1994 Cinnamomum costatum (MAI) PINGEN, FERGUSON et COLLINSON , p. 164, pls 1-3, pl. 4, figs 1-2, pl. 5, fig. 1 (Wiesa, Kreuzau and many other sites).

Leaves simple, petiolate, lamina lanceolate, elliptic to ovate, rarely obovate, 22–89 mm long, 5–34 mm wide, base rarely slightly asymmetric, widely cuneate to cuneate, petiole up to 8 mm long, apex acuminate to shortly acuminate and blunt, margin entire, venation suprabasal acrodromous, midrib strong, straight or slightly curved in apical part, lateral veins thinner, alternate or rarely opposite, at an angle of 20–35°, running along margin, usually connecting secondaries at 2/3 of the blade length, secondary veins thinner, alternate or opposite, at an angle of 40–55°, curved and looping near margin or straight to forked between midrib and lateral veins, tertiary veins alternate, perpendicular, straight to sinuous, often forked, venation of higher orders regular polygonal reticulate, areolation well-developed, 3- to 4-sided, veinlets lacking. Adaxial epidermis strongly cutinized, smooth and hairless, with thin hypodermis underneath showing polygonal non-modified cells with variable anticlinal walls from straight to minutely undulate, partly with slight lens-shaped thickenings (exceptional in wider forms in the present material), abaxial epidermis medium cutinized, non-modified cells polygonal, variable in outline, anticlinal walls straight to curved to small undulate, stomata brachyparacytic with narrow subsidiary cells producing a roundish stoma, ca. 15 µm in diameter, rarely with asymmetrically disposed one or two outer subsidiary cells, trichome bases simple, round, in variable density, lens-shaped mesophyllous oil cells common. Associated fruits small, ovoid, partly embedded in thin-walled cupules with smooth margins (for details on carpological record see Holý 1977a, p. 115, as Cinnamomum zlatkoi ).

D i s c u s s i o n: Since the study by Kvaček and Walther (1974), various leaf forms of this species varying from narrow lanceolate ( bilinica or scheuchzeri forms) to broadly oval ( polymorphum , buchii and spectabile forms) have been considered as ecotypical variation of a single species producing fruits of the Cinnamomum sect. Camphora type. We merge the detached cupules and fruits described under different species names ( Mai 1960, Holý 1977a, Pingen et al. 1994) with leaves identified as Daphnogene polymorpha and confirm the view of Heer (1856) and Ferguson (1971) that these Neogene fossil taxa form a single plexus, which is closely related to Cinnamomum camphora L. ( Holý 1977a, Pingen et al. 1994, Mai 1999 b). It is a typical member of many Miocene floras in Europe, namely of the mastixioid type. Kvaček and Walther (1974) hesitated to merge all triveined leaf forms of the European Cenozoic into a single entity and distinguished Daphnogene cinnamomifolia (BRONGN.) UNGER to designate ancestral records from the Palaeogene, whose affinities to Cinnamomum camphora are so far uncertain. For the time being we refrain from formally recognizing intraspecific taxa within both Daphnogene cinnamomifolia and Cinnamomum polymorphum .

M a t e r i a l: Numerous leaf compressions on slides, G 7696-7697, 9009-9155 (KR, 1, 4, 50, 52, 59, 66, 73, 74, 82, 83, 84, 100, 101, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 132, 135, 141, 142, 155, 157, 150a, 162, 166, 169, 201, 203, 205, 206, 216, 226, 236, 237, 242, 243, 244, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 266, 267, 258, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284), fruits and cupules, G 4305, 4306.

Cin namomum L. sect. Malabathrum MEISSN. Cinnamom um lusaticum MAI Pl. 5, figs 3-4

1971 Cinnamomum lusaticum MAI , p. 322, pls 14-15 (Reichwalde).

1977a Cinnamomum lusaticum MAI ; Holý, p. 112 (Hrádek/N., Kristina Mine).

Cupules broadly obconical, funnel-shaped, 5.5–7.8 mm long, 4.5–5.0 mm wide, blunt at base, irregularly wrinkled, abruptly narrowing into a stout wrinkled stalk, upper margin uneven and wavy, indistinctly 6-lobed, perianth slightly closed, inner surface of cupules smooth, fruit elongate ellipsoidal ( Holý1975, pp. 41-42, pl. 7, fig. 1).

D i s c u s s i o n: Cinnamomoid fruits in the Hrádek flora occur in two forms assigned by Holý (1975, 1977a) to Cinnamomum lusaticum MAI and C. zlatkoi HOLÝ. The latter is now merged with Cinnamomum polymorphum (sect. Camphora MEISN. ). Holý (1975, p. 42) maintained that the material he collected and assigned to Cinnamomum lusaticum was larger than the type of Cinnamomum lusaticum from Reichwalde (Lusatia, Germany – Mai 1971, 1999b) and the margin of the cupules less distinctly wavy. The wavy margin of cupules excludes the affinity to Cinnamomum sect. Camphora ( Mai 1999b, p. 7) . It will be necessary to compare the fruits of Cinnamomum lusaticum in more detail and follow in broader context its relationship to foliage.

M a t e r i a l: 11 fruits in cupules, G 4608, 4610, 8969- 8970.

Magnoliaceae

Magnolia L. Magnolia burseracea (MENZEL) MAI

Pl. 5, figs 5-6

1913

Carpolithes burseraceus MENZEL , p. 84, pl. 7, figs 10-12 (Herzogenrath).

1975 Magnolia burseracea (MENZEL) MAI , p. 567, pl. 25, figs 24-26 (Nirm).

1977a Magnolia burseracea (MENZEL) MAI ; Holý, p. 111 (Hrádek/N., Kristina Mine).

2003 Magnolia burseracea (MENZEL) MAI ; Teodoridis, pp. 12-13, pl. 1, figs 15, 18, 19, 22, pl. 2, figs 8-9 (Hrádek/N., drill cores).

Seeds ovoid, broadly ellipsoidal to broadly trigonal in outline, 5.3–8.4 mm long, 3.7–6.5 mm wide, rarely slightly asymmetrical, sinus of raphe visible only in the lower half of seeds, testa thin, smooth, composed of radially disposed prismatic sclereids, on sides of the base thinner (0.2 mm), on the top thicker (0.4 mm), apex obtuse, micropyle subterminal, heteropyle distinctly concave, rounded or blunt with wedge-shaped condylus, exceptionally cordate at base ( Holý, 1975, pl. 3, figs 1-2).

D i s c u s s i o n: As stated by Holý (1975, pp. 19-20), the specimens described by Menzel (1913) have sclerotesta thinner than 0.5 mm and their form is slightly roundish to ovoid. The same applies to the material from Sandförstgen (Holý, own observation). The other specimens of the sites Salzhausen, Konzendorf, Düren, Wiesa and Merka differ in their often cordate base and thicker testa (ca. 1 mm). Magnolia schiedeana SCHLECHTER from the Mexican uplands is cited as the nearest living relative ( Tiffney 1977, Mai 1999 b).

M a t e r i a l: Ca. 20 seeds and more fragments, G 3605, 4605, 4620, 8971-72, Gs 3072.

Liriodendron L.