Watsoniocladus V.Sriniv.

Plant Fossil Names Registry Number: PFN002402

Act LSID: urn:lsid:plantfossilnames.org:act:2402

Author: V. Srinivasan

Rank: genus

Reference: Srinivasan, V. (1995): Conifers from the Puddledock locality (Potomac Group, Early Cretaceous) in eastern North America. – Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 89(3–4): 257–286.

Page of description: 267

Type

Original diagnosis/description

Coniferous trees or shrubs with leaves in opposite decussate pairs or whorls of three, with leaf bases separated by distinct sutures. Leaves scale-like, adpressed with scarious or fimbriate leaf margins and decurrent bases. Leaves amphistomatic or hypostomatic. Stomata distributed all over abaxial surface and bounded on the outside by a raised ring or flush with the surface. Papillae from the rim of the stomatal pit overarching the stomatal aperture or papillae present inside the pit; stomata mainly monocyclic to incompletely dicyclic. Outer epidermal cell surfaces with or without papillae and/or trichomes.

Etymology

The generic name is in honour of Dr. Joan Watson who has contributed immensely to our knowledge of the extinct Mesozoic conifer family, the Cheirolepidiaceae.