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Science 3 March 1978:
Vol. 199. no. 4332, pp. 975 - 977
DOI: 10.1126/science.199.4332.975
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Articles

Epidermal Patterns of the Lemma in Some Fossil and Living Grasses and Their Phylogenetic Significance

JOSEPH R. THOMASSON 1

1 Division of Science and Mathematics, Black Hills State College, Spearfish, South Dakota 57783

Morphological study of fossil grass anthoecia of Berriochloa and Nassella collected from Miocene-Pliocene strata in Kansas has revealed well-preserved epidermal structure. This seems to be the first micromorphological information known from fossil grass floral bracts. The epidermal pattern on the lemma in the fossils and their living counterparts are evidence in support of the view that the North American species of Stipa of the section Hesperostipa Elias and species of Piptochaetium have a common ancestry in Berriochloa, and that species of both taxa have been distinct from species of the Nassella, Oryzopsis, and other Stipa since at least the Miocene or Pliocene.

Submitted on August 2, 1977
Revised on October 31, 1977


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
BERRIOCHLOA GABELI AND BERRIOCHLOA HULETTI (GRAMINEAE: STIPEAE), TWO NEW GRASS SPECIES FROM THE LATE MIOCENE ASH HOLLOW FORMATION OF NEBRASKA AND KANSAS.
(2005)
Journal of Paleontology 79, 185-199
Fossil Grass Anthoecia Within Miocene Rhinoceros Skeletons: Diet in an Extinct Species.
M. R. Voorhies, M. R. VOORHIES, and J. R. THOMASSON (1979)
Science 206, 331-333
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)