AN ASSESSMENT OF CHEMICAL FEATURES FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF PLANT FOSSILS

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Abstract
Summary: A list of 52 chemical characters is presented for preparing a numerical taxonomy of plant fossils. These characters may be used to determine (1) the degree of chemical similarity among various fossil taxa, (2) the maximum number and the state of characters needed to construct a suprageneric classification corresponding to one based on morphological features, (3) the nature of diagenesis effecting a divergence between chemical and morphological classifications, and (4) the utility of chemical characters in deriving phylogenetic relationships. Results from the analyses of 36 fossil taxa demonstrate the practicality of the proposed system, while comparisons of dendrograms obtained from chemical data and from classical criteria show good agreement. The approach taken in this study can provide an on‐line computer basis for the identification of plant fossils, provided that the environment of post‐depositional sediment maturation was sufficiently mild.