Pittosporum tenuifolium ( Banks and Solander, 1788 )

Pole, Mike, 2022, A vanished ecosystem: Sophora microphylla (Kōwhai) dominated forest recorded in mid-late Holocene rock shelters in Central Otago, New Zealand, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 1) 25 (1), pp. 1-41 : 21

Pittosporum tenuifolium ( Banks and Solander, 1788)

Figure 21

Material. Present in 27% of the shelters with dry vegetation. Shelter-001: LX2715, LX2717; Shelter-007: SL 6600, SL 6601; Shelter-008: SL 6666; Shelter-010: LX3183, LX3323, SL 6706; Shelter-017: LX3171, LX3172, LX3174, LX3175, SL 6616, SL 6618, SL 6626; Shelter-020: LX2956, LX2958, LX2961; Shelter-029: LX5801; Shelter-030: LX2443, LX2471, LX2475; Shelter-032: LX2984; Shelter-036: LX2975; Shelter-037: LX2943, LX2944; Shelter-039: LX5572; Shelter-046: LX2565, LX2572, LX2574, LX2576; Shelter-047: LX3280; Shelter-050: LX2587, LX2589, LX2593; Shelter-056: SL 6434; Shelter-058: SL 6485; Shelter-064: LX3450, SL 6460, SL 6505, SL 6507, SL 6508; Shelter-071: SL 6435; Shelter-073: SL 6513; Shelter-077: LX2556; Shelter-078: SL 6471, SL 6472; Shelter-083: LX2454, LX2455, LX2457, SL 6539; Shelter-090: LX3264; Shelter-100: LX2898, LX2899; Shelter-101: LX2905; Shelter-112: LX5510, LX5511, LX5512, LX5513; Shelter-113: LX5518, LX5519.

Remarks. P. tenuifolium leaves and fruits have already been recorded from Central Otago shelters ( Wood and Walker, 2008). Fragments of leaf cuticle are readily recognized on the basis of paracytic stomatal complexes, broad, smooth ridges marking the anticlinal epidermal cell walls, distinctive deeply staining trichome attachment sites, which usually have irregular and diffuse edges (sometimes with the persistent bases of trichomes), and occasional larger stomatal complexes. The trichome attachment sites and larger stomatal complexes are surrounded by radiating fine ridges.

Figures

FIGURE 21. Pittosporum tenuifolium cuticle morphology (Transmitted light microscopy). A. Paracytic stomatal complexes on adaxial surface with a relatively sharply bounded trichome base at lower left (LX2576, Shelter-63, scale bar equals 40 μm). B. Paracytic stomatal complexes on abaxial surface with a more typical indistinctly bounded trichome base at upper right (LX2455, Shelter-111, scale bar equals 40 μm).