Swamyflora alata E.M.Friis, P.R.Crane et K.R.Pedersen in Friis, Crane, Pedersen & Marone

Plant Fossil Names Registry Number: PFN003120

Act LSID: urn:lsid:plantfossilnames.org:act:3120

Authors: E. M. Friis, P. R. Crane & K. R. Pedersen

Rank: species

Genus: Swamyflora E.M.Friis, P.R.Crane et K.R.Pedersen in Friis, Crane, Pedersen & Marone

Reference for this name: Friis, E. M., Crane, P. R., Pedersen, K. R. & Marone, F. (2024): Cretaceous chloranthoids: early prominence, extinct diversity and missing links. – Annals of Botany 133: 225–260.

Page of description: 256

Illustrations or figures: figs 9–13

Name is type for

Types

Original diagnosis/description

Flower unisexual. Ovary inferior, unilocular. Tepals three, epigynous, borne near the apex of the ovary. Flower triangular in transverse section, with two distinct wings over the lateral ridges and a smaller wing that forms a partial median-dorsal ridge. Tepals alternating with the wings, positioned on the flat faces, with the two larger tepals displaced towards the dorsal side. Style long, slender, hollow. Ovule one, pendent, orthotropous, bitegmic. Outer integument (testa) of three or four layers of thin-walled cells, more in the chalazal region. Sclerotic tissue present in mesotesta. Inner integument
(tegmen) of two or three layers of thin-walled cells. Outer cells of tegmen elongate, slightly sclerotic. Cells of both integuments crushed in mature seeds. Nucellus cellular. Micropyle formed from inner integument. Hypanthium and ovary wall thin, not clearly differentiated. Epidermis of hypanthium wall composed of cells with strongly undulate anticlinal walls, each cell with a single papilla in smaller (presumed younger) specimens.

Etymology

From Latin altus (winged) to indicate the winged nature of the flower.

Stratigraphy

Cretaceous, Lower Cretaceous, Albian
Basal part of Subzone IIB, Potomac Group; Early Cretaceous (early–middle Albian).

Locality

United States
Puddledock locality, former Tarmac Lone Star Industries (Vulcan Materials Co.) sand and gravel pit, located south of Richmond and east of the Appomattox River in Prince George County, VA, USA (37°15ʹ52″N, 77°22ʹ10″W).