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First published online December 24, 2008; doi:10.3732/ajb.0800193 American Journal of Botany 96: 284-295 (2009) © 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

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Bennettitales from the Grisethorpe Bed (Middle Jurassic) at Cayton Bay, Yorkshire, UK¹

² Department of the Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago, 5734 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637 USA ³ Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, Illinois 60022 USA

ABSTRACT

Middle Jurassic fossil plants from the Grisethorpe Bed at Cayton Bay and Grisethorpe Bay, Yorkshire, UK, are preserved in a soft claystone, and plant mesofossils recovered by sieving reveal excellent details of external structure. Studies of these mesofossils complement previous work on macrofossils from the Grisethorpe Bed and allow the plant fossils in this classic flora to be studied in a similar way to those preserved in Cretaceous mesofloras. Bennettitales, a key group in discussions of how angiosperms may be related to other seed plants, are especially well represented among mesofossils from the Grisethorpe Bed. Abundant bennettitalean leaves, scale leaves, and fragments of pollen and ovulate organs provide new information on these extinct plants. In particular, a specimen of Williamsoniella coronata (presumed aborted) shows only weak differentiation between interseminal scales and ovules and provides further evidence of homology between these structures.

Key Words: Bennettitales • fossils • Middle Jurassic • paleobotany • Williamsoniella coronata • Williamsonia leckenbyi • Yorkshire

Received for publication 13 June 2008. Accepted for publication 12 November 2008.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The authors thank E. M. Friis and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. P.R.C. is also grateful to H. van Konijnenburg-van Cittert for advice concerning the Yorkshire Jurassic flora.

⁴ Author for correspondence (e-mail: p.crane{at}geosci.uchicago.edu)

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