L. Hably szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 20. 1988 (Budapest, 1988)
Hably, Lilla: Egerian fossil flora from Kesztölc, NW Hungary
Incertae sedis I. Pl. XI, Fig. 1-2. Material: MÁFI: BK-1136, BK-2495 The remains possibly belong to the same species. Their shape is elongated ovate, the apex is acute, the base is rounded, asymmetrical. The midvein is strong, secondary veins are curved upwards. Both observed specimens can be characterized by thinner pairs of secondary veins, branching out at the base, than the rest, and their track is fairly asymmetrical. This characteristic basal part is identical in both specimens, at the same time separating then from the leaves of other similar plants. The margin is fragmented, thus we can give no further data concerning it. Incertae sedis II. Pl. XI, Fig. 3. Material: BK- 1118 The shape of the leaf is obovate, apex broken, just the same as the basis. The lamina of the leaf becomes gradually narrow towards the basis. The midvein is very thick, strong, 8 pairs of secondary veins branch out from it, which curve upwards and are connected in a loop-like manner, forming a camptodromous type of venation. The margin of the leaf is entire. The thickness of the veins as well as the way of preservation indicate that the plant probably belonged to skinlike plants. F LORIS TIC A L EVALUATION There were 2 6 taxa separated in the Kesztölc flora. Concerning its composition we can state that ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms, including both monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous elements, can equally be found in the flora. Naturally, the dicotyledons predominated in the assemblage, especially the family Lauraceae, dominant both in number and in the number of taxa. We must mention the genus Daphnogene in the first place represented by the most species within one genus in the Kesztölc assemblage. Among the species of the genus, D. lanceolata is predominant (36), though the species D. cinnamomifolia (13) and D. bilinica (10) are also present in a considerable numbers. After Daphnogene , the second most numerous genus here is Castanopsis , represented only by one species here, Castanopsis toscana (24). Further species of notable quantities in the assemblage are Platanus neptuni (15), P. fraxinifolia (7) and Ulmus pyramidalis (8). The role of the species Palaeocarya orsbergensis (5) here is essentially smaller than in some other Egerian floras of Hungary. The other species are represented by 1-2 specimens only. It is apparent from the above presentation that the species we consider predominant here can help us to reconstruct the flora and the vegetation in the first place. We can state that among the predominant species there is only one which can be considered as an Arctotertiary element, Ulmus pyramidalis . If we consider the whole species list, this can be supplemented by 3 further taxa (cf. Acer sp. , Alnus sp. , Ulmus sp. ), all of them represented by very low numbers and of which Ulmus sp. is likely to belong to U. pyramidalis , not assigned there only on account of its fragmented state. It is apparent that the amount of Arctotertiary species and specimens are not significant, apart from the abovementioned U. pyramidalis , which is a species generally occurring in the Egerian floral assemblages. As a species typical of river catchment areas, we can suppose that this species constituted the higher river catchment area vegetation of some river or stream, together with some Alnus species. All the other species of the flora prefer warm climate, in most cases they are of subtropical climatic requirements. Zonal vegetation here is most likely to have been composed of a subtropical laurel-leaf forest. The species of the genus Daphnogene are likely to have had a significant role in it, composing the lower foliage level, that is, the shrub niveau of the vegetation. The species Castanopsis toscana and Platanus neptuni were present as essential constituents of the forest. Other species of warm climate completed the assemblage. The species Smilax weberi contributed to the formation of the creeper plant level. We must mention the presence of the species Taxodium dubium , characteristic for
