Metasequoia occidentalis (NEWBERRY) CHANEY

Manchester, Steven R., 2014, Revisions To Roland Brown’S North American Paleocene Flora, Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae Series B 70 (3 - 4), pp. 153-210 : 157-158

Metasequoia occidentalis (NEWBERRY) CHANEY

Metasequoia occidentalis (NEWBERRY) CHANEY is correctly identified to genus based on the oppositely arranged needle leaves, and cones with decussate arrangement, based on specimens collected from the Paleocene of Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota. From Paleocene strata in Alberta, Stockey et al. (2001) recognized another species, M. foxii STOCKEY, ROTHWELL et FALDER , distinguished by cones with helical arrangement of five rows of cone scales, rather than four decussate rows. This seems to represent a different species from most of the material illustrated by Brown (1962). Crane et al. (1990) placed permineralized taxodioid megafossils from the Paleocene of Almont, North Dakota, in “cf. Parataxodium ARNOLD et LOWTHER ”; however, subsequent collections and study indicate that these remains mostly represent the foliage, pollen and seed cones, and dispersed seeds of Metasequoia occidentalis . A characteristic seed of Glyptostrobus , recovered more recently from Almont, indicates that the Glyptostrobus -like foliage that Crane et al. (1990) considered to be variation within cf. Parataxodium , was likely produced instead by Glyptostrobus europaeus .

Ditaxocladus catenulatus (W.A. BELL) S.X. GUO, Z. KVAČEK , MANCHESTER et Z.K. ZHOU.

The cupressaceous foliage that Brown (1962) referred to as Fokienia catenulata (BELL) R. W. BROWN ( MCIVER and BASINGER 1990) was subsequently found with attached cones and placed in the extinct genus Ditaxocladus GUO et SUN. The species was transferred to Ditaxocladus catenulatus by Guo et al. (2012). Fokeniopsis MCIVER et BASINGER (1993) is a junior synonym of Ditaxocladus GUO et SUN (in Guo et al. 1984).