Fruits from the mid-cretaceous of north america with pollen grains of the clavatipollenites type

Abstract

Small fruits with clumps of monocolpatc, rcticulate pollen grains of the Clavatipollenites type adhering to the stigmatic surface have been recovered from mid-Cretaceous (early Cenoma-nian) Potomac Group sediments of eastern North America. They provide the first mcgafossil evidence of this important early angiosperm pollen genus. The fruits are described as Couperites mauldinensis gen.et sp. nov. They are unicarpellate and unilocular containing a single, anatropous and pendulous seed. The fruit wall is thin with distinct, tubercular protrusions enclosing spherical resin bodies. The seed wall is apparently composed of two distinct tissues, indicating that the seed was probably derived from a ..