Taxus engelhardtii KVAČEK

Kvaček, Zlatko, Teodoridis, Vasilis & Zajícová, Jana, 2015, Revision Of The Early Oligocene Flora Of Hrazený Hill (Formerly Pirskenberg) In Knížecí Near Šluknov, North Bohemia, Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae Series B 71 (1 - 2), pp. 55-102 : 59-60

Taxus engelhardtii KVAČEK

Pl. 1, Fig. 11–13, Pl. 2, Fig. 4–5

1976 Taxus engelhardtii KVAČEK , p. 294, fig. 8–9.

Needle-like leaves isolated, flattened, univeined, only reaching 1 mm in width and 6–12 mm in length. Epidermal structure shows adaxially rectangular cells with straight anticlines. Abaxial cuticle reflects two stomatal bands and three non-stomatal zones; medial non-stomatal zone papillate, lateral only beside stomata covered with low papillae. Stomatal apparati longitudinally arranged, monocyclic, composed of a pair of sunken guard cells and usually four papillate subsidiary cells.

D i s c u s s i o n. Knížecí is the third site, from which proven foliage of Taxus engelhardtii has been recorded. The first occurrence is from the type locality at Kundratice, where whole twigs are preserved ( Kvaček and Walther 1998).Thanks to the very typical epidermal structure we can record the presence of this conifer based on separated needles with very particular papillate monocyclic stomata on the lower leaf side. In addition to the type locality it was only recorded in the upper Oligocene of Enspel in western Germany ( Köhler and Uhl 2014). The needles of Cephalotaxus parvifolia (WALTHER) KVAČEK et WALTHER are morphologically indistinguishable but differ decidedly by the absence of papillae on the stomata (Kvaček and Wather 1998, Walther and Kvaček 2007). According to Spjut (2007) Taxus engelhardtii is very similar to the extant T. mairei (LEMÉE et H. LÉVEILLÉ) S.Y. HU ex T.S. LIU native in subtropical laurophyllous forests of southern China.

M a t e r i a l. Isolated needles with cuticle structure,

NM-G11481a, b, NM-G11482a, b, NM-G11501a–c.