European Tertiary Fagaceae with chinquapin‐like foliage and leaf epidermal characteristics

Abstract Foliage morphotypes of fossil Fagaceae similar to Castanea document for the Eocene and Oligocene of Europe important deciduous accessory elements of the Notophyllous Evergreen and Mixed Mesophytic Forest types. These detached leaf fossils with partially preserved cuticle structures allow us to discriminate two morphospecies: Castaneophyllum venosum (Rossmässler) Knobloch & Kvaček (Late Eocene) and Castaneophyllum lonchitiforme Kvaček & Walther, sp. n. (Oligocene). Both recall foliage of living representatives of Castanea sect. Balanocastanon Dode (chinquapins) and partly Quercus L. while detailed epidermal anatomy indicates more straightforward affinities to the Castaneoideae s.s., namely Castanea in particular, by broader bases of glandular trichomes (Castanea‐ type) and stellate appressed trichomes with thin bases. Similar Neogene morphospecies Quercus drymeja Ung. and Quercus kubinyii (Kováts ex Ettingsh.) Czeczott decidedly differ in almost hairless leaves with a strong hypodermal tissue and simple bases of glandular trichomes matching oaks of the Cerris group. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)