Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

FRUITS AND SEEDS OF THE TERTIARY BRANDON LIGNITE. VII. SARGENTODOXA (SARGENTODOXACEAE)

1993; Wiley; Volume: 80; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/j.1537-2197.1993.tb13834.x

1537-2197

Bruce H. Tiffney,

Plant and animal studies

Seeds of Sargentodoxa (Sargentodoxaceae), a deciduous vine presently restricted to southeastern Asia, are described from the Oligocene Brandon Lignite of Vermont. This is the first report of fossil Sargentodoxaceae. The Sargentodoxaceae are segregated from the Lardizabalaceae, a small family with an unusual modem distribution (six genera in East Asia, two genera in Chile). Given the close relationship of the two families, the discovery of Sargentodoxa in North America, along with one and possibly two other occurrences of Lardizabalaceae in the Northern Hemisphere, raises the possibility that the Lardizabalaceae achieved their present distribution by 1) spreading around the Northern Hemisphere in the early Tertiary as part of the "Boreotropical Flora," followed by 2) long-distance dispersal from north to south in the New World. Other factors argue against this interpretation.