Taxodium dubium Temporal range: | |
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Fossil branchlets from Germany | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Gymnospermae |
Division: | Pinophyta |
Class: | Pinopsida |
Order: | Cupressales |
Family: | Cupressaceae |
Genus: | Taxodium |
Species: | †T. dubium |
Binomial name | |
†Taxodium dubium (Sternb.) Heer | |
Synonyms | |
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Taxodium dubium is an extinct species of cypress in the genus Taxodium in the family Cupressaceae which lived from the Late Paleocene to the Pliocene in North America and Europe. The species was first described in 1823 by Kaspar Maria von Sternberg.
The oldest North American occurrences date to the Paleocene of St. Lawrence Island off the west coast of Alaska and to the Denali National Park and Preserve in central Alaska. [1] By the early Eocene the species had spread south along British Columbia to North and Central Washington state. Ypresian age Okanagan highlands fossils have been found in the British Columbia interior at Quilchena and in Princetons Allenby Formation along with in the Klondike Mountain Formation around Republic and Northern Ferry County, Washington. [1] Coeval lowland coastal swamp and flood plain fossils are found in the Fraser River valley of British Columbia, the Chuckanut Formation of northern Washington, and the Puget Group in the Puget Sound lowlands. The species continued to expand south and by the Middle Eocene was present from the John Day Formation of Oregon south to the Weaverville, California, and in the Miocene had spread east to the Elko Formation, Nevada and the Clarkia fossil beds in Idaho. T. dubium was one of the notable components of the Grand Coulee and Latah floras which interbed with the Columbia River basalts during the middle to late Miocene. By the end of the Miocene and the beginning of the Pliocene, the species was restricted to California, with fossils known from the Corral Hollow and Pittsburg. [1]
The oldest European occurrences are on the island of Spitsbergen, where the species was first described from in 1823. [2] By the late Eocene the species had spread across Europe, with fossils found in Germany, Russia, and the Czech Republic. The latest occurrences in the Atlantic Boreal regions of Europe date to the Late Miocene, while it survived into the late Pliocene in the Paratethys region. [2]
Taxodium dubuim leaves are noted to be dimorphic, with scaly needles present on immature short shoots, and acicular needles on mature short and long shoots. The immature scaly needles are spirally attached around the branchlet, while mature longer needles curve off the branchlets into a flat plane on each side of the shoot. The acicular needles have a pointed apex and a sharply rounded base where a short petiole curves to meet the branchlet. At the longest, needles are up to 1.2 cm (0.47 in). [1]
The short shoots are up to 8 cm (3.1 in) long, and have up to sixty needles that are longest near the center point of the branchlet, getting progressively sorter toward the shoot apex and base. Short shoots sprout in alternating pattern from the older long shoots, which have more widely spaced needles which are also spirally attached but rotated into a flat spray to either side of the shoot. [1]
Mature seed cones of T. dubium range up to 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter, though the cone scales are deciduous, and are shed after cone maturity, which results in full seed cone fossils being rarely preserved. The cone scales are spirally attached to the center axis with up to twelve scales completing a full cone. The scales are shield shaped in outline, with a roughly square to slightly rectangular length to width ratio. The cones were born directly on the branches, with no attaching stem. The central area of each scale is slightly concave, to hold the maturing wing seeds prior to dispersal. [1]
The pollen cones are produced singly or spirally on a panicled branchlet, which is often shed from the tree after pollen dispersal. Individual pollen cones are up to approximately 1 mm (0.04 in) in diameter, with a globular to ovoid outline. The cone scales are indistinct in the fossils, but are suggested to be spirally attached to the center stem. [1]
Thuja is a genus of coniferous tree or shrub in the Cupressaceae. There are five species in the genus, two native to North America and three native to eastern Asia. The genus is monophyletic and sister to Thujopsis. Members are commonly known as arborvitaes, thujas or cedars.
The Elaeagnaceae are a plant family, the oleaster family, of the order Rosales comprising small trees and shrubs, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, south into tropical Asia and Australia. The family has about 60 species in three genera.
Taxodium is a genus of one to three species of extremely flood-tolerant conifers in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. The name is derived from the Latin word taxus, meaning "yew", and the Greek word εἶδος (eidos), meaning "similar to." Within the family, Taxodium is most closely related to Chinese swamp cypress and sugi.
Agathis, commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside Wollemia and Araucaria. Agathis was a important genus in early cenozoic gondwana. Its leaves are much broader than most conifers. Kauri gum is commercially harvested from New Zealand kauri.
Cupressaceae is a conifer family, the cypress, with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27–30 genera, which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or (rarely) dioecious trees and shrubs up to 116 m (381 ft) tall. The bark of mature trees is commonly orange- to red-brown and of stringy texture, often flaking or peeling in vertical strips, but smooth, scaly or hard and square-cracked in some species.
Cryptomeria is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae. It includes only one species, Cryptomeria japonica. It used to be considered by some to be endemic to Japan, where it is known as Sugi. The tree is called Japanese cedar or Japanese redwood in English. It has been extensively introduced and cultivated for wood production on the Azores.
Sciadopitys verticillata, the kōyamaki or Japanese umbrella-pine, is a unique conifer endemic to Japan. It is the sole living member of the family Sciadopityaceae and genus Sciadopitys, a living fossil with no close relatives. The oldest fossils of Sciadopitys are from the Late Cretaceous of Japan, and the genus was widespread in Laurasia during most of the Cenozoic, especially in Europe until the Pliocene. An extinct European relative of this species may have been the primary producer of Baltic amber.
Cunninghamia is a genus of one or two living species of evergreen coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae. They are native to China, northern Vietnam and Laos, and perhaps also Cambodia. They may reach 50 m (160 ft) in height. In vernacular use, it is most often known as Cunninghamia, but is also sometimes called "China-fir". The genus name Cunninghamia honours Dr. James Cunningham, a British doctor who introduced this species into cultivation in 1702 and botanist Allan Cunningham.
Pseudolarix amabilis is a species of coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. The species is commonly known as golden larch, but being more closely related to Keteleeria, Abies and Cedrus, is not a true larch (Larix). P. amabilis is native to eastern China, occurring in small areas in the mountains of southern Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and eastern Sichuan, at altitudes of 100–1,500 m (328–4,921 ft). The earliest known occurrences are of compression fossils found in the Ypresian Allenby Formation and mummified fossils found in the Late Eocene Buchanan Lake Formation on Axel Heiberg Island.
Keteleeria is a genus of three species of coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae first described as a genus in 1866.
Pseudolarix is a genus of coniferous trees in the pine family Pinaceae containing three species, the extant Pseudolarix amabilis and the extinct species Pseudolarix japonica and Pseudolarix wehrii. Pseudolarix species are commonly known as golden larch, but are not true larches (Larix) being more closely related to Keteleeria, Abies and Cedrus. P. amabilis is native to eastern China, occurring in small areas in the mountains of southern Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and eastern Sichuan, at altitudes of 100–1,500 m (328–4,921 ft). P. wehrii is described from fossils dating to the Early Eocene (Ypresian), of Western North America where it is found in the Eocene Okanagan Highlands Allenby and Klondike Mountain Formations. The youngest known occurrence is of mummified fossils found in the Late Eocene Buchanan Lake Formation on Axel Heiberg Island. P. japonica is known from Middle Miocene to Pliocene sediments in Japan and Miocene deposits of Korea. Fossils assigned to Pseudolarix as a genus date possibly as old as the Early Cretaceous Hauterivian stage in Mongolia.
Glyptostrobus is a small genus of conifers in the family Cupressaceae. The sole living species, Glyptostrobus pensilis, is native to subtropical southeastern China, from Fujian west to southeast Yunnan, and also very locally in northern Vietnam and Borikhamxai Province of eastern Laos near the Vietnam border.
Torreya is a genus of conifers comprising six or seven species placed in the family Taxaceae, though sometimes formerly placed in Cephalotaxaceae. Four species are native to eastern Asia; the other two are native to North America. They are small to medium-sized evergreen trees reaching 5–20 m, rarely 25 m, tall. Common names include nutmeg yew.
Cephalotaxus, commonly called plum yew or cowtail pine, is a genus of conifers comprising 11 species, either considered the only member of the family Cephalotaxaceae, or in the Taxaceae when that family is considered in a broad sense. The genus is endemic to eastern Asia, though fossil evidence shows it had a wider Northern Hemisphere distribution in the past. The species are evergreen shrubs and small trees reaching 1.0–10 metres (3–33 ft) tall.
Metasequoia foxii is an extinct redwood species in the family Cupressaceae described from numerous fossils of varying growth stage. The species is solely known from the Paleocene sediments exposed in central Alberta, Canada. It is one of three extinct species belonging to the redwood genus Metasequoia.
Metasequoia occidentalis is an extinct redwood species of the family Cupressaceae that is found as fossils throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It is one of three extinct species of Metasequoia that are currently recognized as valid.
Glyptostrobus europaeus is an extinct conifer species of the family Cupressaceae that is found as fossils throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The sole living species of Glyptostrobus was described from China in 1926. The name of the genus comes from the Greek "glypto" meaning grooved or carved, and "strobilus" meaning cone. The species name "europaeus" refers to the fact that it was first described from Europe.
Ulmus okanaganensis is an extinct species of flowering plant in the family Ulmaceae related to the modern elms. The species is known from fossil leaves, flowers, and fruits found in the early Eocene deposits of northern Washington state, United States and similar aged formations in British Columbia, Canada.
Metasequoia heerii is an extinct redwood species of the family Cupressaceae that is found as fossils throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It is one of several proposed extinct species of Metasequoia that were previously referred to Sequoia.
Pseudolarix wehrii is an extinct species of golden larch in the pine family (Pinaceae). The species is known from early Eocene fossils of northern Washington state, United States, and southern British Columbia, Canada, along with late Eocene mummified fossils found in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada.