Department of Palaeobotany, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden.
Am J Bot. 2001 Mar;88(3):467-80.
Charcoalified fossil flowers of a new genus and species (Paradinandra suecica) with affinities to Ericales s.l. (sensu lato) are described from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian) from Southern Sweden. The flowers are pentamerous, hypogynous, and actinomorphic. Aestivation of sepals and petals is imbricate-quincuncial. The androecium consists of an outer whorl with single episepalous stamens and an inner whorl with paired epipetalous stamens. Pollen is small and probably tricolpate. Three carpels form a syncarpous ovary with numerous campylotropous ovules on parietal placentae. The styles are free for most of their length. The structure of mature fruits and seeds is unknown. Clear distinction of sepals and petals, possible dehiscence of anthers by restricted slits, presence of a nectary, and the general floral construction (salverform corolla) with a canalized access to the floral center clearly indicate insect pollination of the fossil flowers. Comparisons with extant taxa demonstrate that Paradinandra suecica shares many similarities with Ericales s.l. and in particular with members of Ternstroemiaceae, Theaceae, and Actinidiaceae. However, it is neither identical to any one genus of these families nor to any of the previously described ericalean taxa from the Cretaceous and thus provides further evidence of the diversity of Cretaceous ericalean plants.
描述了来自瑞典南部晚白垩世（桑托阶-坎潘阶）的一个新属和种（Paradinandra suecica）的碳化化石花，其与广义的石南目（sensu lato）有亲缘关系。这些花是五瓣的，下位的，辐射对称的。萼片和花瓣的排列方式是覆瓦状的五轮排列。雄蕊由一轮外轮的单个副萼雄蕊和一轮内轮的成对的花瓣雄蕊组成。花粉小，可能具三沟。三个心皮形成一个合生的子房，有许多沿壁生的珠心胚珠。花柱在大部分长度上是自由的。成熟果实和种子的结构未知。明显区分萼片和花瓣，花药可能通过狭缝开裂，有蜜腺，以及一般的花结构（瓮状花冠），有一个通向花中心的通道，这些都清楚地表明化石花是由昆虫授粉的。与现存分类群的比较表明，P. suecica 与广义的石南目，特别是与紫金牛科、山茶科和猕猴桃科有许多相似之处。然而，它既与这些科的任何一个属都不相同，也与白垩纪以前描述的任何一个石南目分类群都不相同，因此进一步证明了白垩纪石南目植物的多样性。
