A unique and complete polemoniaceous plant from the middle Eocene of Utah, USA1
Citation
David L Dilcher, Terry A Lott, and Steven R Manchester, A unique and complete polemoniaceous plant from the middle Eocene of Utah, USA1: .
Summary
An extinct genus of the Polemoniaceae is described from one complete fossil plant preserved in shale of the Eocene Green River Formation, Utah. Combined vegetative and reproductive characters including the taproot, basal and cauline pinnatifid leaves, primary peduncular leaves, secondary peduncular bracts, pedicel bracts, fruits in groups of three, and persistent calyx, support placement of this plant close to the extant genus Gilia. Gilisenium hueberi gen. et sp. nov. represents a rare record of an herbaceous plant, and the oldest megafossil for the family Polemoniaceae. Published in Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, volume 104, issue 1, on pages 39 - 49, in 1998.
Summary
An extinct genus of the Polemoniaceae is described from one complete fossil plant preserved in shale of the Eocene Green River Formation, Utah. Combined vegetative and reproductive characters including the taproot, basal and cauline pinnatifid leaves, primary peduncular leaves, secondary peduncular bracts, pedicel bracts, fruits in groups of three, and persistent calyx, support placement of this plant close to the extant genus Gilia. Gilisenium hueberi gen. et sp. nov. represents a rare record of an herbaceous plant, and the oldest megafossil for the family Polemoniaceae.
Published in Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, volume 104, issue 1, on pages 39 - 49, in 1998.
