Szekessy Vilmos (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 57. (Budapest 1965)

Rásky, K.: A contribution to the study of Tertiary plant remains from Hungary

the recent Centroplacus. The leaf published on Plate II, Fig. 6, is, for example, entirely corresponding to the recent Centroplacus glaucinus leaves preserved in the Herbarium of our Department, but some similarity is also shown toward the leaves of the recent Ophiobotrys zenkeri GILG. The base of this fossil leaf is defective, but it resembles, as concerns its venation, also the leaves of the recent Microdesmis puberula HOOK, f., while the leaves of Microdesmis puberula are minutely dentate. On the other hand, the large Centroplacus leaf specimen figured on Plate III, Fig. 7, though entirely similar to some exemplars preserved in the recent Herbarium of our Department, is still well comparable also to the leaves of the recent Galearia dongnaiensis PIERRE, living in Cochin China. The occurrence of Centroplacophyllum paiaeoglaucinum in the Tertiary of Ipolytarnóc implies here climatical and ecological conditions highly similar to those in which its recent descendant lives in Africa. Locality: Ipolytarnóc, North Hungary, tuff deposit, Tertiary. Generotype: Plate I, Fig. 1, Coll. Nr. 65. 2. 1. Paratype: Plate I, Fig. 2., Coll. Nr. 65. 1. 1. Palaeobotanical Collection, Botanical Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest. Omphaleaephyllum weylandi RÁSKY (Plate II, Fig. 5) Description : Aside of the described type-specimen, a less well preserved exemplar was found in the tuff ; the blade attenuating toward the base, and the parallel, greatarched secondary veins, emitted at right angles from the midrib, are well discernible. The tertiary veins are no better visible on this specimen than on the type. Remarks and comparison: We have compared the impression of the fossil leaf with that of the recent Omphalea biglandulosa (PERS.) BAILL. Omphaleaephyllum is not a frequent, but still a characteristical leaf form of the Ipolytarnóc fossil flora. With regard to the fact that there occur also other genera of the family Euphorbiaceae in the fossil flora, there is nothing to preclude the assumption that these leaf forms also represent this family. The genus Omphalea, a tropical taxon, lives now on the disjunct continents. Locality: Ipolytarnóc, North Hungary, tuff deposit, Tertiary. Paratype: Plate II, Fig. 5, Coll. Nr. 65. 7. 1. Palaeobotanical Collection, Botanical Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest. Erythrospermophyllum ipolytarnocense n. g., n. sp. (Plate II, Fig. 4) Diagnosis gen. et sp.; Leaves ovate-oblong or oblong-elliptical. Length 14 cm, width 6 cm. Apex shortly acuminate, cuneate at base. Margin entire or slightly crenate, especially toward apex. Midrib thick, slightly curved, basal secondaries ascendant, others interconnected by great arches. Between secondaries, also shorter, horizontal, intermediate veins arising from midrib. Tertiary veins not discernible on impression. Texture probably coriaceous. Remarks and comparison : The leaf impressions found in the tuff deposit of Ipolytarnóc are very similar to the leaves of the recent Erythrospermum candidum (BECC) BECC They are also almost identical with the leaf forms of Erythrospermum wichmanni VAL., — an alleged synonym of Erythrospermum candidum — collected for also our Herbarium by L. BIRO in Friedrich Wilhelm-Hafen, New Guinea. The species is a shrub or a tree, locally attaining a length of even 35 m. It favours lower sites in the primary forest, growing on flat or hilly places, up to 10-75 m, rarely up to 500—800 m. SLEUMER remarks (1954, p. 7 — 8), in connection with the recent leaves of Erythrospermum, that „The specimens from the Malay Peninsula differ slightly from the others by the less coriaceous leaves in which the nerves are emitted at about right angles from the midrib". We have found similarly deviating leaves also among those described as Codiaeophyllum palaeovariegatum, where the narrower specimens can be found on Luzon in the Philippines, and the oval leaf shapes on