Journal
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
Volume 163, Issue 1-2, Pages 26-34Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2010.09.002
Keywords
corystosperms; bark; stem anatomy; extraxylary tissues; Middle Triassic; Antarctica
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [OPP-0635477]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Permineralized gymnosperm axes with pycnoxylic wood from the Middle Triassic Fremouw Formation of the Central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica, are assigned to the corystosperms (seed ferns) and conifers. Both groups have been previously described from this formation based on juvenile stems with attached leaf bases and decorticated trunks. Here we describe large axes with preserved bark from the Fremouw Peak permineralized peat locality. The specimens are characterized by a small parenchymatous pith with clusters of sclereids, a thick cylinder (> 10 cm) of pycnoxylic wood, and 1-2 cm of bark containing distinctive clusters of sclereids and a complex system of cortical vascular bundles. Comparison with axes previously described from the Middle Triassic of Antarctica shows that the new specimens are most similar to Kykloxylon, a corystosperm genus based on young stems bearing Dicroidium leaves, and with a portion of axis previously described as Rhexoxylon like. We suggest that both the new specimens and the Rhexoxylon-like axis represent proximal parts of a Dicroidium/Kykloxylon plant that possibly had a fluted trunk base, and we discuss the problem of delimiting features in corystosperm axes. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available