Mastixioid Fruits (Cornales) From The Early Eocene London Clay Flora: Morphology, Anatomy And Nomenclatural Revision
Author
Manchester, Steven R.
Author
Collinson, Margaret E.
text
Fossil Imprint
2022
2022-08-26
78
1
310
328
http://dx.doi.org/10.37520/fi.2022.013
journal article
10.37520/fi.2022.013
2533-4069
7167911
Mastixia
cf.
oregonensis
(R.A.SCOTT)
TIFFNEY
et HAGGARD, 1996
Text-fig. 4a–i
1954
Mastixioidiocarpum oregonense
R.A.SCOTT
, p. 84, pl. 16, figs 16–18.
1994
Mastixioidiocarpum oregonense
R.A.SCOTT
;
Manchester
, p. 43, text-fig. 10B, pl. 10, figs 4–11.
1996
Mastixia oregonensis
(R.A.SCOTT) TIFFNEY et HAGGARD
, p. 42, pl. 2, figs 1–3.
R e m a r k s. Although the
holotype
that
Reid and Chandler (1933)
designated for
Mastixia cantiensis
belongs instead to
Diplopanax
(see above), some of the
paratypes
they identified to
Mastixia cantiensis
are readily distinguished from
Diplopanax
in having prominent endocarp sculpture and a pair of prominent ovular bundle canals in the endocarp adjacent to the germination valve margins. In particular, the specimens V. 22955 (
Reid and Chandler 1933
: pl. 25, fig. 4), V. 22960(1) (
Text-fig. 4a–c
), and V. 22963(2) (
Text-fig. 4e–f
) resemble the fossil genus
Mastixioidiocarpum
R.A.SCOTT
, previously described from the Eocene Clarno Formation of
Oregon
,
USA
(
Scott 1954
,
Manchester 1994
). That fossil genus was subsumed into
Mastixia
by
Tiffney and Haggard (1996)
, who noted that the only difference from modern species of the genus is the more prominently sculptured endocarp.
Tiffney and Haggard (1996)
also attributed similar fruits from the late Eocene LaPorte flora of
California
to the extant genus.
A clear distinction between the Oregon species and the London Clay specimens has not been seen, but the London Clay specimens typically show less prominent sculpture due to abrasion. We treat specimens of this kind as
Mastixia
cf.
oregonensis
. In Europe, such prominently sculptured fossil endocarps are present in some species of
Eomastixia
but are rare in
Mastixia
. Most similar are
Mastixia thomsonii
MAI
from the Miocene of Konzendorf and Düren,
Germany
(
Mai 1970
) and
M. rattazzii
MARTINETTO
(
Martinetto 2011
) from the Oligocene of
Germany
and
Italy
, respectively.