Laurophyllum pseudoprinceps WEYLAND et KILPPER

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 : 62

Laurophyllum pseudoprinceps WEYLAND et KILPPER

Pl. 1, figs 10, 12-14, pl. 11, figs 2-3

1963

1963

1963

1971

Laurophyllum pseudoprinceps WEYLAND et KILPPER , p. 100, pl. 23, figs 14-19, text-fig. 6 (Frimmersdorf Mine, Ville).

Laurophyllum verrucosum WEYLAND et KILPPER , p. 102, pl. 24, figs 24-25, pl. 25, figs 26-27 (Frimmersdorf Mine, Ville).

Laurophyllum undulatum WEYLAND et KILPPER , p. 101, pl. 24, figs 20-21, text-fig. 7-8 (Frimmersdorf Mine, Ville). Laurophyllum pseudoprinceps WEYLAND et KILPPER ; Kvaček, p. 50, pl. 1, figs 4-6, pl. 3, figs 3-5, pl. 4, figs 1-4, text-fig. 1 (Hrádek/N., Kristina Mine, many other sites in North Bohemian Oligocene and Miocene).

Incomplete and fragmentary simple leaves, lamina elliptic to ovate, 37–67 mm long, 12–27 mm wide, base cuneate, decurrent into an up to 13 mm long and 2 mm wide petiole, apex acuminate and blunt, margin entire, venation brochidodromous, midrib strong, straight or slightly curved in apical part, secondary veins thinner, straight, looping by margin, alternate, originating at an angle of 30–50°, tertiary veins perpendicular, straight to sinuous, venation of the higher orders regular polygonal reticulate, areolation well developed, 4-sided, veinlets dichotomous to dendritic branching. Adaxial epidermis thickly cutinized, partly granulate or smooth, non-modified cells polygonal, anticlinal walls varying from almost straight to strongly undulate, mostly exhibiting bead-like thickening. Abaxial cuticle usually also strongly cutinized, non-modified cells showing polygonal to strongly lobately wavy outlines, stomata amphibrachyparacytic, usually 17–25 µm long and 15–20 µm wide, outer subsidiary cells partly unequally developed. Trichome bases simple, sporadic. Lens-shaped oil cells common.

D i s c u s s i o n: This element is very common in the Miocene and Oligocene of Europe but seems to be endemic to Europe. Due to autecological variation (sun vs shade leaves) extreme forms have usually been assigned to independent fossil species ( Weyland and Kilpper 1963) or even genera ( Juchniewicz 1975). We support the previous interpretations by Kvaček (1971) and others and consider them as ecotypes of the same species. The stomatal type suggests an affinity to Ocotea (hence not generally accepted Ocoteophyllum JUCHNIEWICZ 1975 or the direct transfer to Ocotea by Uzunova and Stojanova 1999) but no exact living counterpart in today’s natural world has been suggest- ed so far to match in all respects. Therefore we hesitate to accept the direct transfer into this living genus (see also Kvaček et al. 2011).

M a t e r i a l s t u d i e d: Isolated leaf compressions on slides, G 8894-8961 (KR 31, 32, 36, 51, 53, 61, 62, 63, 85, 124, 125, 127, 131, 144, 146, 149, 150, 161, 163, 174, 189, 191, 227, 228, 230, 231, 263, 296, 297, 298, 317, 321, 322, 408, 409, 528, sine num.).