Szekessy Vilmos (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 54. (Budapest 1962)

Rásky, K.: Tertiary plant remains from Hungary (Upper Eocene and Middle Oligocene)

Sloaneaephyllum grambasti n. gen., n. sp. (Plate III, Fig. 1) Derivation of generic name: construed from the name of the recent genus Sloanea. Derivation of specific name: Named in honor of Professor dr. LOUIS GRAMBAST. Holotype : the specimen shown on Plate III, Fig. 1. In the Paleobotanical Collection of the Botanical Department, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest. Collect, nr. 62. 71. 1. Paratype : 1 leaf, impression and counterpart. Collect, nr. 62. 913. 1. and nr. 62. 914. 1. Type locality: Budapest-Óbuda, the former Nagybátony-Üjlak brickyard Type stratum: marl formation, Upper Eocene. Materials : 2 leaves, holotype and paratype. Diagnosis gen. et sp.: Leaves ovate-elliptical (ellipsoidal). Leaf-base broad, rounded, apex shortly acuminate. Length of leaf 13 cm, greatest width about 10 cm. Remains of petiole missing from impressions. Leaf margin rarely and irregularly dentate. Teeth small, blunt, and distantly spaced at base and on lower part of leaf, but larger, more densely spaced and wavy-dentate in middle and on upper parts of lamina. Midrib thick, hardly attenuating apically, emitting 6 — 7 pairs of raised, slightly arched, apically extending, alternating secondary veins. Distance between secondary veins great, varying between 1,5—3,0 cm. Rasal pair of secondary veins usually opposite. On upper part of lamina, secondaries directed apically. Secondary veins of a camptodrome or subcamptodrome type. In vicinity of apex, secondary veins might also be craspedodrome (?). Raised and arcuate tertiary veins branching from secondary veins, camptodrome in lower, subcamptodrome and also craspedodrome in upper part of leaf. Rranchedoff tertiary veins often connected with broken arches. Smaller veins excurrent also from broken arches into teeth, or tertiary veins directly terminating in teeth. Other tertiary veins, connecting secondary veins more or less perpendicularly, generally parallel, forked, then anastomosing or broken. Areas between tertiary veins filled with very characteristical reticulation of minute interstices. Leaves coriaceous. Remarks : The identification of the leaf remains was facilitated by the occurence of the Sloaneaecarpum fruit finds. O. KUNTZE (1904, p. 522) created the genus Sloaneopsis, relegating to it the leaf remain described as Echinocarpeopsis fastigata by LANGERON (1900, p. 346, PI. 2, Fig. 9) from the Eocene flora in Sezanne. The name Sloaneopsis fails to designate, even according to the new nomenclatural requirements, the organ to which it should refer, and hence the erection of the form genus Sloaneaephyllum is justified for the designation of the fossil leaf remains. SAPORTA discussed a find by the name Monimiopsis amboraefolia (SAPORTA, 1868, p. 73, PI. 8, Fig. 13), comparable to the leaves of Sloaneaephyllum grambasti, from the Paleocene flora of Sezanne. However, the leaf base of Monimiopsis amboraefolia are destitute of the small teeth so characteristical of the leaves of Sloaneaephyllum grambasti, as also the arched, raised tertiary veins branching from the secondary veins. No nearer relationship can be established between the two leaf remains. There is also the possibility of comparison with the leaf fragment described as Grewiopsis credneriaeformis (SAPORTA) SAPORTA, also from the Paleocene flora in Sezanne (SAPORTA, 1868, p. 116, PI. 13, Fig. 7), but due to the type of dentation and the decidedly craspedodrome type of the tertiaries, it differs from the Óbuda leaves, rendering identification impossible.