Carya sp. 3

Stults, DZ & Axsmith, BJ, 2015, New plant fossil records and paleoclimate analyses of the late Pliocene Citronelle Formation flora, U. S. Gulf Coast, Palaeontologia Electronica (New York, N. Y.: 1991) 2 (6), pp. 1-35 : 10-12

Carya sp. 3

Figure 3.4, 3.7

Description. Three obovate and elliptical Carya leaflet specimens with characteristics not fitting well within those of either C. aquatica or C. tomentosa are present in the Citronelle Formation flora. They cannot confidently be assigned to any other species at this time. Laminae in these specimens may be symmetrical or asymmetrical; bases are cuneate; apices are acute. Secondary veins are irregularly spaced with angles increasing basally (from 45º to almost 90º). Tertiary veins are mixed percurrent. Uniform-sized teeth are of one order, regularly spaced, approximately 5 per cm, appearing all along the leaf margin (tooth characters are the major features not comparing well with C. aquatica or C. tomentosa ). Tooth sinuses are angular, shape is straight distally/convex proximally. Principal tooth vein terminates at the apex.

Site occurrence. Perdido Park.

Family remarks. Species of the Juglandaceae are successful in a warm temperate to subtropical North America, as records of both extinct and extant genera clearly demonstrate (Wing and Hickey, 1984; Manchester, 1991; Manchester and Dilcher 1997; Manos and Stone, 2001; Elliott et al., 2006;). Carya first appears in Eocene sediments in North America ( Manchester, 1999). Seven species of Carya currently occur on the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain ( Godfrey, 1988), making this region a major center of diversity of the genus. Fruits and leaves of the juglandaceous genus Pterocarya have been identified from the Citronelle Formation, but will be described in a separate publication.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Representative Juglandaceae from the Citronelle Formation (continued). 1. Carya cf. aquatica leaflet (UF 19315–062069), scale bar equals 5 mm. 2. Epifluorescence micrograph of leaf from Figure 3.1, note peltate hairs, scale bar equals 125 µm. 3. Carya cf. tomentosa leaflet (UF 19315–062070), scale bar equals 2 cm. 4. Carya species #3 partial leaflet (UF 19210–062071), scale bar equals 5 mm. 5. Carya cf. aquatica leaf margin of Figure 3.1, scale bar equals 2.5 mm, 6. Carya cf. tomentosa leaf margin of Figure 3.2, scale bar equals 5 mm. 7. Carya species #3 of Figure 3.4 leaf margin, scale bar equals 2.5 mm.