A NEW TAXODIACEOUS SEED CONE FROM THE OLIGOCENE OF WASHINGTON

Cunninghamiostrobus goedertii is described as a new species based on permineralized seed cones from the Early Oligocene of Washington. The fossils come from the Makah Formation and were found on the northern shore of the Olympic Peninsula. The cone consists of numerous bract-scale complexes arranged helically around a central axis. Each bract-scale complex has a large bract bearing a small flap of tissue adaxially that represents the ovuliferous scale. Up to three seeds were produced on each complex. The vascular trace to the bract-scale complex diverges from the vascular cylinder of the cone axis as a concentric strand. This divides in the outer cortex of the axis to form a large collateral bract tract abaxially and a minute scale trace adaxially. The latter continues outward to supply the ovuliferous scale. The bract trace divides, forming many strands outward which occur in a row with transfusion tissue between them. Many resin canals also occur in the bract. The new cone combines features found in modern cones of Athrolaxis, Cunninghamia, and Taiwania but is most similar to Cunninghamiostrobus yubariensis from the Late Cretaceous of Japan.