Sterculia crassinervia (ETTINGSHAUSEN) PROCHÁZKA

Kvaček, Zlatko & Teodoridis, Vasilis, 2011, The Late Eocene Flora Of Kučlín Near Bílina In North Bohemia Revisited, Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae Series B 67 (3 - 4), pp. 83-144 : 101-102

Sterculia crassinervia (ETTINGSHAUSEN) PROCHÁZKA

Pl. 9, figs 7, 9, 11

1868 Platanus aceroides GÖPPERT ; Ettingshausen, p. 84, pl. 29, fig. 7.

1869 Acer crassinervium ETTINGSHAUSEN , p. 22, pro parte, pl. 45, figs 9-13, 15-16 (non 8, 14 = “ Acer” sotzkianum UNG. ).

1975 Sterculia crassinervia (ETTINGSHAUSEN) PROCHÁZKA in Procházka and Bůžek, p. 59.

1990 Sterculia crassinervia (ETTINGSHAUSEN) PROCHÁZKA et BŮŽEK, Bůžek et al. , p. 172, fig. 3.15.

Leaves simple, trilobate (abnormally bilobate, with one lobe reduced), petiole long, indistinctly geniculate at the attachment with the lamina, lamina broadly ovate to quadrangular, entire-margined or widely, wide and long, lobes short and blunt, directed to the leaf apex, main apical lobe wide tringular, venation tri-palmate, primaries arising directly from the lamina base, secondary veins widely spaced.

Lectotype selected by Procházka and Bůžek (1975) has been illustrated by Ettingshausen (1869, pl. 45, fig. 13) and is housed in Budapest Natural History Museum (BP 55.2416.1) – refigured in pl. 9, fig. 11.

D i s c u s s i o n: Such leaves recalling maples already described from Kučlín ( Ettingshausen 1869, as Acer crassinervium ) were originally joined with the fruits of A. sotzkianum under the same taxon Acer crassinervium by Ettingshausen (1869). When Procházka (in Procházka and Bůžek 1975) made a revision of the Tertiary maples occurring in the Bohemian Massive he rejected Ettingshausen’s opinion that the leaves represent true maples and transferred these leaves of A. crassinervium to the genus Sterculia ( Malvaceae sensu lato) on the basis of the venation, large morphological variation and overall comparison with the maples. In our opinion the malvalean affinities of A. crasiervium are more probable, even though it may not be appropriate to assign it directly to Sterculia . The leaves of this kind are morphologically variable and some recall other malvalean morphotypes described above as Byttneriopsis. Neither Procházka nor we are able to suggest any living species of Sterculia with leaf morphology that would support the affinity to this genus. The fusion of leaves with quite unusual fruits as suggested by Ettingshausen cannot be supported. The fruits of A. sotzkianum occur independently from S. crassinervia at Sotzka and Holý Kluk ( Radoň et al. 2006), the leaves are not accompanied with the fruits at Bechlejovice, where S. crassinervia occurs at the single locality besides Kučlín ( Kvaček and Walther 2004, Manchester 1987).

M a t e r i a l: BP 55.2393.1, 55.2416.1, 55.2476.1,

NM G 3677.