''Paradinandra suecica'' is a species of fossil plants from the Cretaceous of

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. It is of uncertain placement within the order Ericales, and was described in 2001.

Biostratigraphy

The specimens of ''Paradinandra'' had been naturally fusanised (turned into

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), and were recovered by sieving sand and clay. The deposits are thought to be of Late Santonian to Early Campanian age, and are located in a former kaolin quarry owned by

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near

Näsum Näsum is a locality situated in Bromölla Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of Swed ...

Skåne Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne C ...

(). The specimens were described by Jürg Schöneberger and Else Marie Friis in 2001 in the '' American Journal of Botany'', and have been deposited at the

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Description

The flowers of ''P. suecica'' are less than long, which is typical for fossil flowers from the Cretaceous. The flowers are organised into whorls of five parts. The sepals are free, lanceolate, and have as obtuse tip. They bear trichomes along the median vein, and become much thinner away from the thickened centre. The

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are thought to be fused together, at least at their bases; they are shaped like a bishop's mitre. Each flower has 15

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s, which may also be united at the base, and taper towards the attachment of the

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

. The filaments of the outer whorl of five stamens are long, while those of the inner whorl are around either or long. This results in the anthers falling into three distinct layers in the bud. It is not known whether the difference is retained on flowering. Pollen grains found associated with the flowers are long, and appear to be

tricolpate The eudicots, Eudicotidae, or eudicotyledons are a clade of flowering plants mainly characterized by having two seed leaves upon germination. The term derives from Dicotyledons. Traditionally they were called tricolpates or non-magnoliid dicots ...

, which is a characteristic of the eudicots. The gynoecium bears three styles, and the ovules are curved.

Affinities

In their original description, Schöneberger and Friis noted that the flowers had few features which would allow them to determine the relationships of ''Paradinandra'' to other plants. The stamen arrangement seen in ''Paradinandra'' and the curved ovules are both seen in various families within the Ericales ('' sensu lato''), and some families, such as

Ternstroemiaceae The Pentaphylacaceae are a small family of plants within the order Ericales. In the APG III system of 2009, it includes the former family Ternstroemiaceae. Genera In 2014, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website included 14 genera in the family: Plan ...

, show both. This suggests that closest relatives of ''Paradinandra'' are found among the order Ericales, but the authors could not assign the fossil to any single family, and therefore assigned it '' incertae sedis'' (of uncertain placement) within the order.

Biostratigraphy

Description

Affinities

References

Further reading