Buxus sp.

Fig. 5 D

Material.

UMJ 79991, UMJ 80159.

Description.

Leaf simple, lamina elliptic to slightly rhombic, c. 12 mm long, 5 mm wide, primary venation pinnate, primary vein prominent, details of secondary venation hardly discernible but appearing densely spaced.

Discussion.

A single leaf of Buxus has previously been reported from the coeval fossil site Gratkorn (Hably and Meller 2017) but this record is somewhat doubtful based on the venation pattern (cf. Kvaček et al. 1982). The leaf in the Andritz assemblage resembles Buxus by its leaf shape and venation. Dispersed cuticle of Buxus were described from the Sarmatian locality Sopron-Piusz puszta (western Hungary; Erdei and Lesiak 1999–2000). In western Eurasia, Buxus is ecologically diverse occurring both in open shrublands and in lowland forests (Denk et al. 2001). Based on the rare occurrences of this genus in the Sarmatian floras of Andritz and Gratkorn, it might have been an element of well-drained forests further away from the palaeolake.