IDENTIFICATION OF FOSSIL SEEDS OF <i>ERICA</i> AND <i>CALLUNA</i> BY SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

Abstract

S ummary A study of the surfaces of Erica and Calluna seeds by S.E.M. reveals a range of morphological characteristics, which can be used in conjunction with features more readily visible by conventional light microscopy to separate contemporary reference material of all the West European species. These fine morphological characteristics have also been detected on well‐preserved Pleistocene material from south‐west France and used to identify eight separate Erica species in the fossil record. Where the surface of fossil seeds has been sufficiently degraded an underlying regularly pitted layer is revealed which seems to be present in all the species recorded and has frequently been observed and used in identification by previous workers using transmitted light microscopy.