Icacinicarya elegans

Icacinicarya elegans

(Bowerbank) Reid et Chandler

Fossil group Plants
Order Icacinales
Family Icacinaceae
Genus Icacinicarya
Taxonomic status Accepted
Geological age Ypresian

Summary

Icacinicarya elegans was an early Eocene icacinaceous plant known from the hard inner stone of its fruit. That endocarp formed a protective wall around the seed, but no leaves, stems or other attached organs are known, so the size, shape and growth habit of the whole plant cannot be reconstructed.

The original fossil material is no longer available for modern re-examination, making this species unusually dependent on the historic description and figures. Those records show an oblong to subovate fruit stone with distinctive structures near the apex. Modern work continues to recognise the species within Icacinaceae, but its more precise living relationship remains uncertain.

Quick Identification

Look for: only with caution — the original material is lost. The historical figure shows an oblong/subovate, blunt-ended stone with a paired knob-like projection beside the style and a thickened marginal region; a new specimen would need close comparison with that documentation.

Diagnostic Features

  • Historically described outline is oblong to subovate and relatively blunt/obtuse.
  • A pair of knob-like apical projections occurs on either side of the stylar region in the original figure.
  • The paired apical projections were interpreted as infill or expression of short canals in the endocarp wall.
  • A thickened marginal region was described along the course associated with the funicular/vascular pathway.
  • No surviving type or reliably matched specimen is presently available for CT confirmation, so these characters remain historically documented rather than re-observed.

Fossil Details

Typical size
No secure modern size range can be verified because the original material is lost.
Fossil material
Seed, Fruit
Preservation
The principal preservation problem is loss of the actual reference specimen. Identification must rely on historic illustrations/descriptions; any newly collected specimen should remain provisional until its morphology can be compared directly and, ideally, imaged internally.

Similar Species

Recorded Fossil Sites

No fossil-site occurrences have yet been recorded for this species.

References

  • Eleanor Mary Reid; Marjorie Elizabeth Jane Chandler. (1933). The London Clay Flora. . British Museum (Natural History), London View reference
  • Gregory W. Stull; Neil F. Adams; Steven R. Manchester; Dan Sykes; Margaret E. Collinson. (2016). Revision of Icacinaceae from the Early Eocene London Clay flora based on X-ray micro-CT. Botany, 94(9), 713–745 View reference
  • Kathleen B. Pigg; Steven R. Manchester; Melanie L. DeVore. (2008). Fruits of Icacinaceae (Tribe Iodeae) from the Late Paleocene of western North America. American Journal of Botany, 95(7), 824–832 View reference
Last Reviewed
26 August 2026 Reviewed by Sam Harris