Carpinus perryae

Carpinus perryae was described from two type specimens, the holotype and paratype fertile bracts, numbered UWBM 71171, specimen A and B respectively. Both compression fossil specimens are preserved together on a single rock slab that is part of the Burke Museum paleobotanical collections. Pigg, Manchester, and Wehr (2003) noted at the time of description that Carpinus perryae was the oldest confirmed hornbeam fossil placed in Carpinus, Based on six morphological character states that are present in the fossils ranging from nutlet and bract shape to serration of the bract, C. perryae was determined to be most similar to species in Carpinus subgenus Carpinus, such as Carpinus monbeigiana. A noted distinction between the modern species and the fossils is the overall bract shape, ovate in modern species, but obovate in C. perryae. ==Distribution and paleoecology==

Carpinus perryae is known from a single location in the Eocene Okanagan Highlands, an outcrop of the Ypresian The pollen flora has notable elements of birch and golden larch, and distinct trace amounts of fir, spruce, cypress, and palm. having distinct seasonal temperature swings which dipped below freezing in the winters. However, further study has shown the lake system was surrounded by a warm temperate ecosystem that likely had a mesic upper microthermal to lower mesothermal climate, in which winter temperatures rarely dropped low enough for snow, and which were seasonably equitable. C. perryae is one of several birch-alder family species described from the Republic site. Two other members of subfamily Coryloideae have also been described from the Klondike Mountain Formation, Corylus johnsonii and Palaeocarpinus barksdaleae, while an additional two species Alnus parvifolia and Betula leopoldae are known from subfamily Betuloideae. ==Description==

The Carpinus perryae fruits have a basal nutlet by wide which is enclosed by an asymmetrical wing-shaped bract. The elongated bract is long and only wide, giving an obovate outline, and arises from the upper margin on the nutlet. Along the margins of the bract are small widely spaced teeth which are obtuse to nearly spiny in morphology. Five to six veins originate at the attachment region of the nutlet and extend upwards through the bract. One to two primary veins are present on the narrower side of the bract and the other three to four on the wider side with the widest primary vein slightly offset from the bract center and running to the bract apex. Secondary veins branch from the either side of the primaries in alternating fashion, and tertiary veins connect the secondaries at right angles. The primary veins terminate in the teeth, with the other teeth vascularized by secondary veins. ==References==