FIGURE 5 - uploaded by R. A Stockey
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Metasequoia foxii from Munce's Hill.-A. Branch with elongate leaves. UAPC-ALTA S58,447 ×1.4.-B. Ovate ovulate cone. UAPC-ALTA S58,403 ×3.1.-C. Winged seeds. UAPC-ALTA S49,613 ×3.2.-D. Germinating seed; note primary root (PR). UAPC-ALTA S58,612 ×10.-E. Seedling with two cotyledons (C) and two juvenile leaves (L). UAPC-ALTA S51,537 ×2.4.
Context in source publication
Context 1
... specimens of a small, coiled fern crozier, 10-12 mm in diameter, have been recovered from Unit 1, but due to the lack of preserved diagnos- tic features, a definite identification is not pos- sible. Based on the relatively small size, they are likely from Speirseopteris orbiculata (Fig. 4G). (Fig. 5A-E). Specimens consist of branches, foli- age, pollen and seed cones, dispersed and germi- nating seeds, and seedlings from Units 1 and 3. Most of the mature Metasequoia organs were found within Unit 1, while seedlings were found primarily in Unit ...
Citations
... Equisetum tubers function in storage and regeneration, but may also act as propagules. Several late Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic fossil examples of sphenophyte rhizomes with attached tubers have also been described (e.g., Kerp and Fichter, 1985;Watson and Batten, 1990;Wu, 1999;Zhang et al., 2007;Sun et al., 2013;Stockey et al., 2014;McLoughlin and Pott, 2019). However, all extant and fossil sphenophyte rhizomes with tubers differ from the Madygen fossils in that they are regularly subdivided into nodes and internodes, with tubers typically being attached to the nodes, while there is no evidence of subdivision in any of the Madygen straps. ...
Documented evidence of root nodules in fossil plants is exceedingly rare, and thus the evolutionary history and paleobiology of these specialized structures hosting symbiotic microorganisms continue to be largely unresolved. Here we report adpression fossils of slender roots from the ∼237-million-yr-old Madygen Formation in Kyrgyzstan, to which are laterally attached spheroidal protuberances up to 2.5 mm in diameter that we interpret as root nodules based on spatial arrangement and comparisons with other fossil and extant root nodules, along with several types of other plant structures exhibiting a superficially similar appearance (e.g., fertile organs, rhizome tubers). The producer of the roots and the biological nature and affinities of the microorganisms inhabiting the nodules remain unknown. The Madygen fossils are nevertheless significant because they represent the second-oldest record of root nodules worldwide, predated only by permineralized mycorrhizal root nodules from the Triassic of Antarctica.
... Third, to reconstruct the paleoclimate for Kanaka Creek from its angiosperm leaves. Fourth, to compare the floral compo-sition and paleoclimate of Kanaka Creek with other Paleocene plant localities in the region, notably the putatively coeval basal Chuckanut Formation in Washington State, USA (e.g., Pabst 1968;Griggs 1970;Mustoe and Gannaway 1997;Breedlovestrout et al. 2013), and more broadly with other selected Paleocene floras in western Canada and adjoining areas (e.g., Crane et al. 1990; Moiseeva et al. 2009;Pigg and DeVore 2010;Sunderlin et al. 2011Sunderlin et al. , 2014Stockey et al. 2013Stockey et al. , 2014Greenwood and West 2017). Our analysis of the Kanaka Creek fossil flora provides insights into Paleocene coastal environments of British Columbia that were hitherto lacking. ...
... Eocene floras in British Columbia are relatively well known (e.g., Rouse 1962;Hopkins 1969;Greenwood et al. 2005Greenwood et al. , 2016Steenbock et al. 2011;Mathewes et al. 2016;Pigg and DeVore 2016;Lowe et al. 2018); however, Paleocene floras from Canada and adjoining areas are largely restricted to a number of welldescribed macrofloras from Alberta and Saskatchewan (e.g., Bell 1949Bell , 1965Chandrasekharam 1974;Christophel 1976;McIver and Basinger 1993;Hoffman and Stockey 1999;Stockey et al. 2013Stockey et al. , 2014Greenwood and West 2017), and to a series of Paleocene to Eocene sites in Nunavut, Yukon, North Dakota, and Alaska (e.g., Wolfe 1966;Crane et al. 1990;McIver and Basinger 1999;Greenwood et al. 2010;Pigg and DeVore 2010;Sunderlin et al. 2011Sunderlin et al. , 2014Vavrek et al. 2012;West et al. 2015). Rouse (1967) reported a leaf and pollen flora of Maastrichtian to Danian (i.e., early Paleocene) age from Parsnip Creek in central British Columbia. ...
... Inventories of Paleocene floras in the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains regions (e.g., Bell 1949;Brown 1962, revised by Manchester 2014) record a number of taxa also found at Kanaka Creek. Elsewhere in western Canada, Stockey et al. (2014) summarized many of the taxa in common among Paleocene floras in southern and central Alberta, from the upper part of the Scollard Formation (Chandrasekharam 1974;Greenwood and West 2017) and the Paskapoo Formation (e.g., Christophel 1976;Hoffman and Stockey 1999;Stockey et al. 2013), whereas McIver andBasinger (1993) documented the flora from the Ravenscrag Formation in southwestern Saskatchewan. Whereas Stockey et al. (2014) listed the Smoky Tower flora as occurring within the Scollard Formation, Dawson et al. (1994) using its palynoflora correlated this mid-Paleocene flora with the Paskapoo Formation. ...
Paleogene sediments of the Huntingdon Formation, a correlative to the Chuckanut Formation of neighboring Washington State, USA, are exposed in the greater Vancouver area, British Columbia, Canada. Palynology and plant macrofossils suggest the Kanaka Creek section is Paleocene rather than Eocene in age. Detrital zircon dating is less decisive, yet indicates the Kanaka rocks are no older than Maastrichtian. Analyses of plant macro- and microfossils suggest an early to middle Paleocene age for the Kanaka fossil flora. Paleocene indicators include macrofossils such as Platanus bella, Archeampelos, Hamamelites inequalis, and Ditaxocladus, and pollen taxa such as Paraalnipollenites, Triporopollenites mullensis, and Duplopollis. Paleogene taxa such as Woodwardia maxonii, Macclintockia, and Glyptostrobus dominate the flora. Fungal spores including the Late Cretaceous Pesavis parva and the Paleogene Pesavis tagluensis are notable age indicators. Physiognomy of 41 angiosperm leaf morphotypes from Kanaka Creek yields mean annual temperatures in the microthermal to lower mesothermal range (11.2 ± 4.3°C to 14.6 ± 2.7°C from LMA; 14.8 ± 2.1°C from CLAMP), with mild winters (cold month mean temperature 3.9 ± 3.4°C). Paleoclimate was cooler than the upper Paleocene and Eocene members of the Chuckanut Formation. Mean annual precipitation is estimated at ~140 cm with large uncertainties. The Kanaka paleoflora is reconstructed as a mixed conifer-broadleaf forest, sharing common taxa with other western North American Paleocene floras and growing in a temperate moist climate. Kanaka Creek is a rare coastal Paleocene plant locality that provides new insights into coastal vegetation and climate prior to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
... Third, to reconstruct the paleoclimate for Kanaka Creek from its angiosperm leaves. Fourth, to compare the floral compo-sition and paleoclimate of Kanaka Creek with other Paleocene plant localities in the region, notably the putatively coeval basal Chuckanut Formation in Washington State, USA (e.g., Pabst 1968;Griggs 1970;Mustoe and Gannaway 1997;Breedlovestrout et al. 2013), and more broadly with other selected Paleocene floras in western Canada and adjoining areas (e.g., Crane et al. 1990;Moiseeva et al. 2009;Pigg and DeVore 2010;Sunderlin et al. 2011Sunderlin et al. , 2014Stockey et al. 2013Stockey et al. , 2014Greenwood and West 2017). Our analysis of the Kanaka Creek fossil flora provides insights into Paleocene coastal environments of British Columbia that were hitherto lacking. ...
... Eocene floras in British Columbia are relatively well known (e.g., Rouse 1962;Hopkins 1969;Greenwood et al. 2005Greenwood et al. , 2016Steenbock et al. 2011;Mathewes et al. 2016;Pigg and DeVore 2016;Lowe et al. 2018); however, Paleocene floras from Canada and adjoining areas are largely restricted to a number of welldescribed macrofloras from Alberta and Saskatchewan (e.g., Bell 1949Bell , 1965Chandrasekharam 1974;Christophel 1976;McIver and Basinger 1993;Hoffman and Stockey 1999;Stockey et al. 2013Stockey et al. , 2014Greenwood and West 2017), and to a series of Paleocene to Eocene sites in Nunavut, Yukon, North Dakota, and Alaska (e.g., Wolfe 1966;Crane et al. 1990;McIver and Basinger 1999;Greenwood et al. 2010;Pigg and DeVore 2010;Sunderlin et al. 2011Sunderlin et al. , 2014Vavrek et al. 2012;West et al. 2015). Rouse (1967) reported a leaf and pollen flora of Maastrichtian to Danian (i.e., early Paleocene) age from Parsnip Creek in central British Columbia. ...
... Inventories of Paleocene floras in the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains regions (e.g., Bell 1949;Brown 1962, revised by Manchester 2014) record a number of taxa also found at Kanaka Creek. Elsewhere in western Canada, Stockey et al. (2014) summarized many of the taxa in common among Paleocene floras in southern and central Alberta, from the upper part of the Scollard Formation (Chandrasekharam 1974;Greenwood and West 2017) and the Paskapoo Formation (e.g., Christophel 1976;Hoffman and Stockey 1999;Stockey et al. 2013), whereas McIver and Basinger (1993) documented the flora from the Ravenscrag Formation in southwestern Saskatchewan. Whereas Stockey et al. (2014) listed the Smoky Tower flora as occurring within the Scollard Formation, Dawson et al. (1994) using its palynoflora correlated this mid-Paleocene flora with the Paskapoo Formation. ...
The late Paleocene to early Eocene sediments of Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands, Nunavut, of the Canadian High Arctic contain a rich fossil flora and fauna. Although the megafloral fossils have been known for more than a century, limited descriptions of the fossil flora have been presented. Here, we provide a comprehensive morphotype catalogue of fossil plants from multiple localities from Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands that form a systematic framework for establishing an early Paleogene polar flora from High Arctic latitudes in Canada. Described are 62 ‘dicot’ angiosperm morphotypes, three monocotyledonous angiosperms, 13 gymnosperms, and five pteridophyte morphotypes. This work presents a significant contribution to the understanding of north-polar diversity and environments during the warm greenhouse climate of the early Paleogene.
... In this report a new species of Paleocene palm leaf from the Genesee megaflora of the Scollard Formation of Alberta (Chandrasekharam, 1974;Stockey et al., 2014), is described and illustrated. The fossil palm leaves presented here are all fan palms (Sabalites, subfamily Coryphoideae), but lack sufficient diagnostic features to be assigned to a tribe or genus within the Coryphoideae. ...
... Further, the Genesee fossil locality is within the mapped outcrop of the upper member of the Scollard Formation on the current geological map of Alberta (Prior et al., 2013). More recently, Stockey et al. (2014) listed the Genesee flora as being from the Lower Paleocene upper Scollard Formation, pollen zone P1, which is correlative with the Wodehouseia fimbriata Zone (Demchuk, 1990;Lerbekmo and Sweet, 2008), thus placing the Genesee flora stratigraphically as early Paleocene, an age assignment we follow here. ...
Palms (Arecaceae) are iconic plant fossils, providing evidence of warm climates in the geological past in geographical areas that today support temperate, boreal or even polar climates. Fossil palm leaves are well known from Paleocene sites in the U.S.A., including Montana, Washington, and Alaska. Palm megafossils are unknown, however, from the Canadian Paleocene. Here, palms from the Scollard Formation of Alberta are described and illustrated from the early Paleocene Genesee locality, central Alberta. These fossil palm leaves are fan palms (Subfamily Coryphoideae), but the limited diagnostic information of leaf fragments prevents assignment to a palm tribe. The Genesee megaflora represents a broad-leaf deciduous boreal forest growing under a temperate moist climate. The Genesee palm fossils demonstrate the northernmost Paleocene palms known from leaf fossils east of the Rocky Mountains, and are tiny at < 15 cm, likely reflecting plants growing at their cold northern limit.
... Type:-USA. dakota: Fort Union (neotype, designated by Manchester & al. 2002: 726 Stockey et al. (2013Stockey et al. ( , 2014 disagreed with the Celtis affiliation and referred these leaves to Aphananthe Planchon (1848: 265, 337) as Aphananthe sp., who found a corresponding leaf architecture in one of the extant species of this extant genus. Manchester (2014) noticed that Aphananthe-like fruits are absent and Celtis fruits are present at their localities as at the Palaeocene sites in eurasia and North America that supports the belief that fossil Celtis aspera foliage type was probably produced by the same plant as Celtis with reticulate endocarps rather than extant species of Aphananthe having smooth endocarps. ...
The new names Mciveriella and Rhamnica are proposed to replace later homonyms, Harmsia McIver & Basinger and Rhamnites Forbes ex McIver & Basinger respectively. Rhamnites Newberry is restored as a valid genus, being synonymized with Amelanchites McIver & Basinger. Rhamnites Forbes ex Berry is re-classified as Berchemiopsis McGinitie. The new combinations Archeampelos lobatocrenata, Archeampelos nebrascensis, Berchemiopsis berchemiiformis, Mciveriella hydrocotyloidea, Rhamnica cleburnii, Rhamnica goldiana, Rhamnites asperus are proposed. Furthermore the illegitimate name Populus cordata Newberry (non Hort. ex Poiret) is lectotypified and transferred into Archeampelos with the new name A. yellowstonica.
... Endocarps of extant Aphananthe species differ from Celtis by having a smooth, rather than reticulate, outer surface. Stockey et al. (2014) disagree with the Celtis interpretation and refer the leaves to Aphananthe sp., although Aphananthe-like fruits are absent and Celtis fruits are present at their localities as at other Paleocene sites in North America and Asia cited by Manchester et al. (2002). ...
The Paleocene megafossil flora of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains region in the United States of America, including leaves, cones, fruits, and seeds, monographed by Roland W. Brown in 1962, has been reevaluated and updated to include subsequent taxonomic revisions. The scope of this investigation included thousands of specimens from more than 450 localities of the Fort Union, Evanston, Ferris, Raton, Bear, Lebo, Melville, Ludlow, Tongue River and Sentinel Butte strata of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and North and South Dakota. A large number of floristic elements remain uncertain as to their modern familial affinities due to limited diagnostic characters, or insufficient comparative investigations. Nevertheless, many of Brown’s determinations have been upheld and several newly recognized genera and families have strong support. The flora includes greater diversity of Platanaceae and Cornales than Brown had recognized. These, together with Fagales (particularly Betulaceae and Juglandaceae), Saxifragales (Trochodendroides, Archeampelos and Nyssidium), are widespread and prominent members of the flora. New combinations introduced here include Ensete goldianum (LESQUEREUX) comb. nov., Macginitiea nobilis (NEWBERRY) comb. nov., Platanites raynoldsii (NEWBERRY) comb. nov., Trochodendroides genetrix (NEWBERRY) comb nov., Cucurbitaciphyllum lobatum (KNOWLTON) comb. nov., and Mciveraephyllum nebrascense (SCHIMPER) comb. nov. Georeference data are provided for all of the localities cited by Brown. © 2014, Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae, Series B - Historia Naturalis. All right reserved.
We travel back in time through this chapter and take a field trip to western North America during the Paleocene– Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), some 56 million years ago. Here, plant-and-animal fossils were discovered in the warmest interval of the last 500 million years, a condition that lasted only 200,000 years. We provide a brief review of what may have caused a massive influx of atmospheric carbon detected during the PETM. We contrast the PETM to similar ongoing thermal events that began during the Industrial Revolution and persist today. We discuss the tools that paleobotanists have devised to interpret climate from fossil leaf, pollen, and wood records, and present a brief overview of floral changes that occurred in western North America before, during, and right after this thermal maximum. Lastly, we explore how fossil data can be incorporated with ecological and systematic information into biogeographical models to predict how plants respond to climate change.
