Oleaceous laurophyllous leaf fossils and pollen from the European Tertiary

Abstract

By using cuticular analysis for the first time laurophyllous leaf remains from the European Tertiary have been reliably identified as belonging to the Oleaceae. Despite ecologically determined variation in cuticular structures, Late Miocene leaf material from northern Italy is assigned to a single species, Oleinites liguricus Sachse n. sp. The associated oleaceous pollen grains support that this species has been a prominent component, at least locally, of a laurophyllous forest community. From extensive comparisons with leaf cuticles and pollen of extant Oleaceae it may be concluded, that the fossil leaves and probably corresponding pollen represent the tribe Oleeae and may originate from a plant closely comparable to extant Chionanthus and Fraxinus. A reinvestigation of some Oligocene laurophyllous leaf remains has uncovered two more oleaceous species in the European Tertiary: Oleinites maii (Bůžek et al.) Sachse comb. nov., and Oleinites hallbaueri (Mai) Sachse comb. nov. Considering the high diversity of laurophyllous Oleaceae in modern evergreen and mixed mesophytic forests and the common presence of oleaceous pollen in the fossil record it may be expected that cuticular analysis of laurophyllous leaf fossils will lead to the recognition of an increased number of oleaceous taxa in Tertiary leaf assemblages.