Inflorescences and Flowers ofMauldinia angustilobasp. nov. (Lauraceae) from Middle Cretaceous Karst Infillings in the Rhenish Massif, Germany

Abstract

A new species of the extinct genus Mauldinia (Lauraceae) is described from middle Cretaceous karst infillings in Upper Devonian limestone of the Rhenish Massif, Germany. The new species, Mauldinia angustiloba, is based on exquisitely preserved flowers and fragments of inflorescences, in some cases with flowers attached. The compound inflorescences consist of an elongate axis with bilobed lateral inflorescence units in a spiral arrangement. Each lateral inflorescence unit typically bears five sessile and bisexual flowers on the adaxial surface but in rare cases has up to nine flowers. Flowers are trimerous with two perianth whorls, nine fertile stamens in three whorls, three staminodia in an inner fourth whorl, and a superior unilocular gynoecium. Stamens of the third whorl have paired, almost sessile, lateral staminal appendages. Mauldinia angustiloba is distinguished from previously described species of the genus by the longer and narrower lobes of the lateral units and by the almost sessile staminal appendages. The excellent preservation of the fossils has yielded new information on floral structure and anatomy in Mauldinia.