Cantisolanum daturoides

Cantisolanum daturoides

Reid & Chandler

Fossil group Plants
Genus Cantisolanum
Taxonomic status Accepted
Geological age Ypresian

Summary

Cantisolanum daturoides was a tiny early Eocene flowering plant known from a single pyritised seed. It was historically compared with nightshades, but modern micro-CT revealed that its seed construction is fundamentally different from Solanaceae. Its straight axis and specialised seed coat instead point towards the commelinid monocots.

The exact family and order remain unresolved, so the fossil should not be forced into a modern plant family. What the seed does preserve is remarkable microscopic anatomy: individual seed-coat cells, a differentiated micropyle at one end and a thickened chalazal region at the other. It is therefore a good example of how internal imaging can overturn an old identification without requiring the formal fossil name itself to be discarded.

Quick Identification

Look for: a tiny seed about 4.5 × 2.1 mm whose important characters are mainly internal; micro-CT shows a straight longitudinal axis, a single-cell mechanical seed-coat layer and a strongly differentiated micropyle surrounded by radially elongated, inward-curving cells.

Diagnostic Features

  • Seed is about 4.5 mm long and 2.1 mm wide.
  • Longitudinal axis is straight, with the micropyle opposite the chalazal end.
  • Testa includes a prominent single mechanical layer of comparatively thin-walled cells.
  • Cells around the micropyle are radially elongated and curve inward towards the micropylar canal.
  • Chalazal end is thickened and contains a relatively wide central heteropyle.

Fossil Details

Typical size
Known seed about 4.5 mm long and 2.1 mm wide.
Fossil material
Seed
Preservation
The seed is heavily pyritised and most of its exterior is obscured by surrounding matrix; fine outer-surface detail is poorly preserved. The decisive characters are internal and were revealed by micro-CT, so an isolated seed lacking comparable anatomical evidence should not be assigned confidently to this species or returned to Solanaceae on superficial shape alone.

Recorded Fossil Sites

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

References

  • Tiina Särkinen; Sören Kottner; Wolfgang Stuppy; Farah Ahmed; Sandra Knapp. (2018). A new commelinid monocot seed fossil from the early Eocene previously identified as Solanaceae. American Journal of Botany, 105(1), 95–107 View reference
Last Reviewed
26 August 2026 Reviewed by Sam Harris