Fraxinus sp.

Smith, MacKenzie A., Greenwalt, Dale E. & Manchester, Steven R., 2023, Diverse Fruits And Seeds Of The Mid-Eocene Kishenehn Formation, Northwestern Montana, Usa, And Their Implications For Biogeography, Fossil Imprint 79 (1), pp. 37-88 : 63

Fraxinus sp.

Text-fig. 11h

M a t e r i a l. USNM PAL 624697.

L o c a l i t y. Dakin.

D e s c r i p t i o n. Samara 1.5 cm long and 0.3 cm wide, elongated obovate; pedicel 0.4 cm long; seed body fusiform 0.7 cm and long 0.1 cm wide (L/W ratio 5.38) oriented so the long axis is in the long axis of the fruit; fruit length/seed length ratio 2.89; vein running from the apex of seed body to the distal end of fruit; calyx absent.

R e m a r k s. Wu et al. (2021) determined that length/ width ratios of the fruit and seed bodies in addition to the fruit length to seed length can help with diagnosing sections within Fraxinus . Although the distal end of this fruit is missing, the fruit L/W ratio has to be greater than 4.5 and the fruit length/seed length ratio has to be greater than 2.19. These ratios would place our Fraxinus into section Melioides or section Fraxinus ( Wu et al. 2021) . Mathewes et al. (2021) reviewed Eocene fossil Fraxinus fruits from the Eocene Quilchena locality in British Columbia. Our fossil bears some resemblance to the samaras in their pl. II, fig. 2, with narrow bases that lack a calyx ( Mathewes et al. 2021).

Figures

Text-fig. 11. a: USNM PAL 624090 Chenopodium sp. 1. Scale bar 1mm. b: USNM PAL 624372 Chenopodium sp. 2. Scale bar 2mm. c: Chenopodium pratericola from Minnesota Wildflowers 2023b. d: Chenopodium hybridum, FLAS seed collection. Scale bar 1mm. e: USNM PAL 625523 Eucommia montana showing subapical stigmatic cleft, seed body and stipe. Scale bar 1mm. f: USNM PAL 625160 E. montana showing faint subapical stigmatic cleft and stipe. Scale bar 2mm. g: USNM PAL 768185 E. montana showing subapical stigmatic cleft, reticulate venation and stipe. Scale bar 2mm. h: USNM PAL 624697 Fraxinus sp. samara showing long persistent pedicel, seed body and wing. Scale bar 5mm. i: USNM PAL 625396 Catalpae seed with frayed wings. Scale bar 2mm. j: USNM PAL 624316 Catalpae seed with frayed wings. Scale bar 1mm. k: USNM PAL 722179 Apialean schizocarp with lateral spines and line of dehiscence. Scale bar 2mm.