CC BY 4.0
Maple
Acer angustilobum, Mittelmiozän
About the object
There are two species of maple among the marlstone slabs taken from the Bohlinger Schlucht: Acer trilobatum and A. angustilobum. A slender leaved maple, the margins of its leaves are coarsely toothed. In this example, the leaf veins have been outstandingly well-preserved. They hang together like a net and their mesh, for its part, is made up of a delicate, finely branched pattern. The veins transport water and nutrients and provide the leaf with structural support. The preservation of such small, finely-sized structures after 13.5 million years is extremely rare.
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Today, the genus Acer comprises between 110 and 200 species. They grow in temperate to tropical zones and are almost invariably deciduous: they shed their leaves in autumn and grow new leaves in spring. The climate in what is present-day southern Germany was warmer during the Middle Miocene and the seasons pronounced. It is probable that this maple species was also deciduous like the majority of its present-day relatives.