Abstract
A single actinomorphic flower has been found in the Horsefly Mine Top Section (Middle Eocene) of British Columbia. The flower, 2.1 cm in diameter, has six sepals, probably a superior ovary, and six stamens, one opposite each sepal. The pollen is morphologically identical with that of the dispersed grain of Pistillipollenites macgregorii Rouse. Grains, 22 μm in diameter, have numerous gemmae supported by columellae and a finer ornamentation of nanoverrucae. The grains are triporate with gemmae around apertures. Spherical hollow Ubisch bodies indicative of a secretory tapetum underlie remains of tapetal membranes. The floral structure of this new taxon, Pistillipollianthus wilsonii gen. et sp. nov., is distinctly different from the only other Pistillipollenites-producing flower described from the Eocene of Texas. The current study indicates that Pistillipollenites grains identified in sediments from the Cretaceous to the Eocene probably represent pollen from different angiosperm families, and it adds to the evidence that this type of gemmate grain may have evolved several times through convergent evolution.
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