Pagiophyllum sp.

Moreau, Jean-David & Néraudeau, Didier, 2023, Amber and plants from the Upper Cretaceous of La Gripperie-Saint-Symphorien (Charente-Maritime, Western France), Comptes Rendus Palevol 22 (20), pp. 455-466 : 461

Pagiophyllum sp.

( Fig. 3K, L)

MATERIAL. — Two specimens: IGR-23250 ; IGR-23251 .

DESCRIPTION

Leafy axes are straight, narrow, up to 15 mm long and up to 3 mm in diameter. Leaves are persistent, helically arranged, highly adpressed and imbricated ( Fig. 3K, L). Leaves are scalelike, rhomboidal, longer than wide, and keeled on abaxial side. They are up to 3.8 mm long and up to 0.6 mm wide. Apically, leaves display a short free part which is up to 2 mm long. The leaf margin is entire and the shape of the leaf apex is quite pointed.

REMARKS

Specimens are preserved as charcoalified compressions, the cuticle is not preserved.The gross morphology of Pagiophyllum is close to those of Brachyphyllum Brongn., 1828 (e.g. straight twigs having needles helically arranged and small leaves). This latter differs from Pagiophyllum by its leaves that are as long as wide, with a shorter free part strongly adpressed to the stem ( Harris 1979). In western France, the conifer Pagiophyllum was rarely reported in the Cenomanian amber of Charente-Maritime ( Moreau et al. 2020) and the Cenomanian clay from Vienne ( Valentin et al. 2014).