XVI International Botanical Congess

Carpites aralioides MacGinitie was reinvestigated based on expanded collections from the Middle Eocene of western Wyoming. The flowers are hypogynous, with five sepals, a circular disk, ~ ten stamens (with striate, tricolpate pollen) and ~ 18 radially arranged, connate carpels sharing a common style. The cymose infructescences bear loculocidal capsules with elliptical winged seeds. The hypogynous calyx and cymose infructescence refute the previous suggestionof araliaceous affinity. The full combination of flower, pollen, fruit and seed traits does not coincide with that of a known extant family. The systematic position of this plant remains uncertain despite the wealth of morphological data now available, we consider it be a new extinct genus best placed in family incertae sedis pending additional work.