Liquidambar, Linnaeus, 1753

Na, Yuling, Blanchard, Jane & Wang, Hongshan, 2019, Fruits, seeds and flowers from the Puryear clay pit (middle Eocene Cockfield Formation), western Tennessee, USA, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 49) 23 (3), pp. 1-57 : 24

Liquidambar ? sp.

Figure 29

Description. Laterally compressed infructescence (fruit?) ca. 2 cm in diameter (including spike-like projections formed by the persistent styles).

Number of specimens examined. 1. CONN-Q12- 01.

Remarks. Dilcher and Lott (2005, p. 12, figure 18D, H) reported one specimen from the Powers clay pit, Tennessee, and assigned it to the extant genus Liquidambar . The persistent styles of the two specimens from the Puryear and Powers clay pits indicate that they may be related to Liquidambar . However, available morphological characters do not warrant the assignment of these specimens to the modern genus, even though pollen of Liquidambar has been reported from the Claiborne Group of Alabama (Gray, 1960). Based on previous phylogenetic analyses that show Altingia and Semiliquidambar are nested within Liquidambar, Ickert-Bond and Wen (2013) transferred all Altingia and Semiliquidambar species to Liquidambar and recognized 15 species within the genus.

Figures

FIGURE 29. Liquidambar? sp.: CONN-Q12-01, laterally compressed infructescence with persistent styles. Scale bar equals 4 mm.