Hymenaea mexicana

Hymenaea mexicana is known from a series of fossil flowers and leaves which are inclusions in transparent chunks of Mexican amber. The species where the amber was also found in was in Brazil which could indicate where the specie Hymenaea mexicana could have been located as well. The specimens were collected over the course of twenty five years with a total of thirty amber specimens being examined for the description of the species. The fossils were examined by paleobotanists George Poinar Jr. of Oregon State University and Alex Brown of Berkeley, California; Poinar and Brown's description of the species was published in a 2002 article in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. The etymology of the chosen specific name mexicana was indicated in the type description. ==Description==

The leaflets of H. mexicana are an inequilateral falcate shape with the lamina at the base uneven and the outside leaf margin more rounded then the inside margin. The single full leaflet is long and in width, with a leaf petiole that is long on the inside margin of the base, and sessile on the outside margin. The flowers bisexual and small, being tall and from sepal to sepal. A distinct pubescence ranging from dark brown to tan covers the flower. The preserved petals show distinct resin pockets on their surface and a distinct row of hairs along the midvein. ==References==