Lauraceous flowers from the Potomac Group (mid-Cretaceous) of eastern North America

Abstract

Fossil inflorescences and flowers of Mauldinia mirabilis gen. et sp. nov. are described from the early Cenomanian Elk Neck beds of northeastern Maryland, USA, and are assigned to the family Lauraceae. Specimens are exceptionally well preserved and provide the earliest evidence of trimerous floral organization and endosperm in angiosperms. Floral organization in M. mirabilis is the same as that of many extant Lauraceae, and the unique inflorescence structure can also be interpreted in terms of inflorescence patterns in extant taxa. Mauldinia mirabilis is the first unequivocal documentation of Lauraceae from the Cretaceous and provides further evidence for considerable diversity among magnolii..