FIELDS, PATRICK F.* AND RALPH E. TAGGART. Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1312. - Neogene western North American Nelumbo, Nuphar, and Nymphaea megafossils.
Neogene megafossil floras of western North America occasionally
include remains of leaves, petioles, rhizomes, and roots of Water Lily
and Water Lily-like plants. Most of this material has been assigned
to the form genus "Nymphaeites". Recent systematic
revisions of numerous fossil assemblages has led to a better
understanding of leaf and rhizome morphology, and suggests that much
of this material can be reliably assigned to extant genera in the
Nymphaeales. As revised, specimens are more properly referable to:
Nelumbo, Nuphar, or Nymphaea. Nelumbo is
known from nearly complete remains in Reynolds Basin, Id. and as
rhizomes in the Stinking Water, Or. flora. It is distinguished by
rhizomes with swollen root-bearing nodes, and large centrally peltate
(peltate central), orbicular leaves. Nuphar is known from
leaves in Trout Creek, Or. and possibly from Eastgate, Nv. It is
distinguished by bi-convex leaf scars on the rhizome, and deeply
cordate, ovate to oblong leaves with a prominent midrib and pinnate
venation. While Nymphaea is known from leaves and rhizomes
from Sonoma, Ca., Trapper Creek and Weiser, Id., Buffalo Canyon,
Eastgate, Esmeralda, and Middlegate, Nv., Mascall, Stinking Water,
Succor Creek, and Trout Creek, Or. It is distinguished by oval leaf
scars along the rhizomes and cordate or off-centered peltate (peltate
eccentric), orbicular to ovate leaves, with a faint midrib and weakly
pinnate to radial venation. Further, pollen assignable to the
Nymphaceae is known from Reynolds Basin, Id. and Succor Creek, Or.
Key words: Nelumbo, Neogene, Nuphar, Nymphaea, paleobotany, Water Lilies