Laurinoxylon seemannianum, (MADEL) GOTTWALD

Koutecký, Vít & Sakala, Jakub, 2015, New Fossil Woods From The Paleogene Of Doupovské Hory And České Středohoří Mts. (Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic), Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae Series B 71 (3 - 4), pp. 377-398 : 382-383

Cinnamomoxylon seemannianum (MÄDEL) GOTTWALD

Pl. 3, Fig. 1–4, Text-fig. 8–9

1958 Laurinoxylon seemannianum MÄDEL ; Mädel in Süss and Mädel, p. 82–83, text-fig. 1, 2, p. 91, pl. I, fig. 1–4, p. 93, pl. II, fig. 5–8.

1969 Laurinoxylon cf. seemannianum MÄDEL ; Selmeier, p. 732, text-fig. 1–3, p. 735, text-fig. 5–8.

1974 Laurinoxylon tertiarum PRAKASH ET TRIPATHI , p. 311, text-fig, pl. IV/20–25.

1984 Laurinoxylon seemannianum MÄDEL ; Selmeier, p. 14–21, text-fig. 1–9

1997 Cinnamomoxylon seemannianum (MÄDEL) GOTTWALD ; Gottwald, p. 26, text-fig. 11, p. 69, pl. IV, fig. 34–37

M a t e r i a l: Nechranice 69/03, 71/03, 79/04, 81/04, 111/06.

D e s c r i p t i o n. Wood is diffuse-porous (Text-fig. 8); growth ring boundaries are indistinct.

Vessels: Mostly solitary (52–81%), occasionally in radial multiples of 2–3; solitary pores circular in outline. Tangential diameter 47–112–196 µm, radial diameter 47–274 µm; pore density ranges from 7 to 11 per square mm. Perforation plates exclusively simple; intervessel pits alternate, with polygonal outlines, 6–15 µm in diameter.

Rays: Heterocellular, 2–4 cells (29–88 µm) wide, 5–29 cells (127–525 µm) high, composed of procumbent cells and one row of upright marginal cells with idioblasts; density 6– 9 rays per tangential mm. Bi- and triseriate rays common, quadriseriate rare; biseriate rays 29–49 µm wide, 5–22 cells (127–470 µm) high; triseriate rays 29–69 µm wide, 7–29 cells (147–525 µm) high; quadriseriate rays 49–88 µm wide, 16– 26 cells (186–490 µm) high. A schema of typical rays is presented in Text-fig. 9.

Axial parenchyma: Paratracheal vasicentric, locally aliform, in 1–2 (occasionally 3) often incomplete layers around vessels, often confluent between two neighbouring vessels; idioblasts present.

Idioblasts: Present in rays (in their marginal part or among two confluent rays), axial parenchyma and among fibres.

Fibres: Thin-walled, occasionally septate.

D i s c u s s i o n. All features, among others the presence of idioblasts, indicate that our wood belongs to the family Lauraceae ( Dupéron-Laudoueneix and Dupéron 2005) .

Four woods from this family were described from Tertiary of north-western Bohemia: Laurinoxylon czechense PRAKASH et al. ( Prakash et al. 1971) , which were also mentioned by Sakala et al. (2010); a type species of Laurinoxylon , L. diluviale (UNGER) FELIX , newly revised by Dupéron et al. (2008); Sassafrasoxylon lipnicense BŘEZINOVÁ et SÜSS ( Březinová and Süss 1988) ; and Laurinoxylon sp. ( Březinová 1981). Our wood type is different from all of them. L. czechense has idioblasts associated only with rays. L. diluviale as newly observed by Mantzouka et al. (submitted) has idioblasts associated with ray parenchyma, and also among the fibres, not with axial parenchyma; moreover, the ray width of both species is different. Sassafrasoxylon lipnicense has ring porous wood ( Březinová and Süss 1988), and the wood described by Březinová (1981) as Laurinoxylon sp. has narrower rays and distinctly wider vessels.

Our wood is most similar to the fossil species from Laurinoxylon Type 3 sensu Mantzouka et al. (submitted), i.e., with idioblasts in rays, in axial parenchyma, and among the fibres: Laurinoxylon tertiarum PRAKASH et TRIPATHI , Laurinoxylon variabile PRIVÉ-GILL et PELLETIER, Cinnamomoxylon limagnense (PRIVÉ-GILL et PELLETIER) GOTTWALD and Cinnamomoxylon seemannianum (MÄDEL) GOTTWALD.

However, Cinnamomoxylon limagnense has scalariform perforation plates ( Privé-Gill and Pelletier 1981, Gottwald 1997), and very frequent idioblasts at the ray margins ( Privé-Gill and Pelletier 1981). L. tertiarum ( Prakash and Tripathi 1974) also has scalariform perforation plates, but other features are similar to our wood. L. variabile ( Privé-Gill and Pelletier 1981) has up to 5-celled sheaths of frequently confluent vasicentric parenchyma, and thick-walled fibres. This is the only L. seemannianum (Mädel in Süss and Mädel 1958) that presents simple perforation plates alone, although according to Selmeier (1969), Süss (1958) observed two categories of this species: those with exclusively simple and those with exclusively scalariform perforation plates. Selmeier (1969) described L. cf. seemannianum with 4-seriate rays, and with both types of perforation plates. The new combination Cinnamomoxylon seemannianum was done by Gottwald (1997), and our wood fits his definition of Cinnamomoxylon. A comparison this wood type with similar ones can be seen in Tab. 5.

This wood shows similarity to the genus Cinnamomum ( Richter 1981) , and we designate our wood type 4 as Cinnamomoxylon seeemanianum ( MÄDEL) GOTTWALD .

The presence of a cinnamon in the Tertiary of north-western Bohemia is independently confirmed by fossil leaves and fruits of Daphnogene cinnamomifolia (BRONGNIART) UNGER from the Doupovské hory and České středohoří Mts. (e.g., Bůžek et al. 1990, Kvaček 2011).