The aim of this report is to describe a suite of fossil flowers with
possible nymphaealean affinities. The fossil remains were collected
from the Old Crossman Pit locality near Sayreville, New Jersey, in
outcrops of the Raritan Formation, estimated as Turonian (~90 MYBP,
Upper Cretaceous). The fossil remains, exhibiting exceptional
preservation, are three-dimensional and preserved as charcoal. Flowers
are bisexual, actinomorphic with a cup-shaped "receptacle"
and perigynous/hypogynous. The perianth is formed by numerous spirally
arranged tepals. The androecium is composed of numerous stamens and
staminodes also spirally arranged. Stamens and staminodes are laminar
with an acute tip and free from one another. Pollen grains unknown.
What appears to be a central sterile column is surrounded by a whorl
of more or less free carpels. Additional appendages, probably sterile,
surround the gynoecium. Between the cup-shaped receptacle and the
androecium there is an elongated zone which does not bear any
appendages. The sum of features of this fossil suggests Nymphaeales
but other magnoliid groups cannot yet be ruled out. The results of a
cladistic analysis to determine more exactly the relationships of
these fossils will be presented. Nymphaealean fossils are of great
interest because of recent molecular analyses placing this small relic
group as a sister group of all, or most, of the remainder of
angiosperms.
Key words: fossil flowers, Magnoliales, Nymphaeales, Raritan Formation, Turonian