Sassafras hesperia
| Sassafras hesperia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Sassafras hesperia, Washington state
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Magnoliids |
| Order: | Laurales |
| Family: | Lauraceae |
| Genus: | Sassafras |
| Species: | S. hesperia
|
| Binomial name | |
| Sassafras hesperia (
Wehr , 1987 | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Sassafras selwyni | |
Sassafras hesperia is an
extinct species of flowering plant in the family Lauraceae
.
Distribution
The species is known from
Kamloops and Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park near Smithers.[1][2][3] S. hesperia is related to three modern species, S. albidum, which is native to the eastern United States, S. tzumu native to central China, and S. randaiense native to Taiwan.[4] The modern species form a noted disjunct distribution.[4]
History
The original
paleobotanist Edward W. Berry, based on a compression fossil leaf specimen, was published in 1929.[5] When first published the holotype specimen's type locality was misidentified as being part of the Latah Formation of Spokane.[1] Roland W. Brown (1937) corrected the type locality to the older Republic area strata,[6] but occasional confusion as to the species age still occurred: notably Daniel I. Axelrod (1966) in his paper on the Copper Basin flora of Nevada considered the age of S. hesperia as Oligocene.[1]
Working from specimens collected in the Republic, Washington area in the early 1980s, the species was redescribed in 1987 by
Florissant formation. Wolf and Wehr also note that the early Oligocene S. ashleyi is closely related and may have evolved from S. hesperia.[1]
Description
Sassafras hesperia leaves are large, with fossils over 13.5 centimetres (5.3 in) known. the species appears to have been possibly evergreen, based on the notably thick leaf remains, thicker than the younger S. ashleyi and S. columbiana. This contrasts with modern Sassafras species, which are deciduous, suggesting that an evergreen state is ancestral in Sassafras.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wolfe, J.A.; Wehr, W.C. (1987). "Middle Eocene dicotyledonous plants from Republic, northeastern Washington". United States Geological Survey Bulletin. 1597: 1–25.
- doi:10.1139/E04-100.
- ^ Archibald, S.B., Greenwood, D.R., Smith, R.Y., Mathewes, R.W., and Basinger, J.F. 2012. Great Canadian Lagerstätten 1. Early Eocene Lagerstätten of the Okanagan Highlands (British Columbia and Washington State). Geoscience Canada, v. 38(4), p. 155–164.
- ^ S2CID 44051126.
- doi:10.3133/pp154h. 154-H.
- doi:10.3133/pp186J.