Phoenicites imperialis (Dawson) D.R.Greenw. et Conran in Greenwood, Conran & West

Plant Fossil Names Registry Number: PFN003276

Act LSID: urn:lsid:plantfossilnames.org:act:3276

Authors: D. R. Greenwood & J. Conran

Rank: species

Basionym: Sabal imperialis Dawson

Reference: Greenwood, D. R., Conran, J. & West, C. K. (2022): Palm fronds from western Canada are the northernmost palms from the Late Cretaceous of North America and may include the oldest Arecaceae. – Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 301: 104641 (1–20).

Page of description: 9

Illustrations or figures: Plate II, figure 1

Previously published illustration or figures: fig. 23 in Dawson, J. W. (1883): On the cretaceous and Tertiary floras of British Columbia and the North West Territory. S.N.: 15–34.

Types

Original diagnosis/description

Midrib elongate : more than 16 centimetres long and 1.8 wide; coarsely striate longitudinally, perhaps in consequence of pressure. Leaf having folds varying from 8 to 15 millimetres in breadth, at angle of 55° to 60° at base, more acute upward. Nerves fine, 30 to 60 on each fold, five or six on each side of the middle being coarser than the others. General form and margin unknown, but must have been one to two feet or more in diameter of blade.

Emended diagnosis

Pinnate-entire palm leaves with a narrow rachis flaring basally, the lamina large; segments attached (connate) for ~60–100% of segment length, decurrent with rachis, plication reduplicate. Petiole unarmed.

in Greenwood, D. R., Conran, J. & West, C. K. (2022): Palm fronds from western Canada are the northernmost palms from the Late Cretaceous of North America and may include the oldest Arecaceae. – Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 301: 104641 (1–20).

Stratigraphy

Cretaceous, Upper Cretaceous, Campanian
Extension Formation

Locality

Canada
Harwood Colliery, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia