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  [Aroid-l] Indeed: How old are the aroids?
From: epiphyte1 at earthlink.net (Adam Black) on 2008.07.31 at 16:35:23(18306)
Leland and all interested,

Aside from a lagerstatten site, don't forget about paleopalynological research analyzing fossil pollen, which as understand it would be more reliably preserved than other plant tissues. Well preserved leaves and other parts would of course be more intereting to visualize, but fossil pollen would be more likely to indicate the presence of aroids in paleoenvironments not conducive the preservation of leaves and other parts.

See the following, an interesting paper on pollen of an early Cretaceous Aroid from Portugal

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artidS4535

Also here is an abstract of a late Cretaceous Aroid infructescense (J. Bogner one of the authors)

http://rparticle.web-p.cisti.nrc.ca/rparticle/AbstractTemplateServlet?journal=cjb&volumeƒ&year=&issue=&msno°5-033&calyLang=eng

Also of interest, an Eocene Philodendron sect Meconostigma from western Tennessee:

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2442000

...and another paper on fossil Araceae pollen:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/815564h77w6v8484/

These all jumped out at me on a quick Google search - but there is probably more info out there. I'm interested in fossil vertebrates of the Tertiary and Pleistocene and in research have noticed fairly regulary references to Tertiary aged Aroids, especially in the Eocene floras, but never looked earlier than that until now.

Adam Black

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