Javelinoxylon, an Upper Cretaceous Dicotyledonous Tree from Big Bend National Park, Texas, with Presumed Malvalean Affinities
Gasson P, Wheeler EA, Lehman T. 1994. Javelinoxylon, an Upper Cretaceous Dicotyledonous Tree from Big Bend National Park, Texas, with Presumed Malvalean Affinities. American Journal of Botany. 81(6):703-710
Well-preserved petrified woods from the Maastrichtian of Big Bend National Park, Texas, with a combination of characters seen in the Malvales are described as Javelinoxylon multiporosum gen. et sp. nov. One log is over 70 cm in diameter and is riddled with termite galleries; this specimen provides additional documentation for the occurrence of dicotyledonous trees in the Late Cretaceous. These woods have structure different from any other known Cretaceous dicotyledonous wood and are advanced in the Baileyan sense as vessel elements are relatively short, perforations are exclusively simple, vessels are commonly in long radial multiples, and rays are storied. This is the earliest record for woods with storied structure. The occurrence of large dicotyledonous trees with advanced wood structure in Big Bend suggests there were differences between the Late Cretaceous vegetation of the northern Rocky Mountains and the Big Bend region.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Gasson, P; Wheeler, E; Lehman, T
- Units
- DENA
- Keywords
- Cretaceous, dicot, IAR, javelinoxylon, Plant Studies, Tree