Mennegoxylon

{{Short description|Extinct genus of trees}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Mennegoxylon Specimen No. 26.jpg | image_caption = ''Mennegoxylon'' specimen | taxon = Mennegoxylon | authority = F.M.Hueber, E.M.V.Nambudiri, W.D.Tidwell & E.F.Wheeler | type_species = ''Mennegoxylon jonesii'' | type_species_authority = }}

'''''Mennegoxylon''''', commonly referred to as '''snakewood''', is a genus of now extinct trees exhibiting a cell structure resembling snake skin when viewed in cross section.<ref name="Hueber">{{cite journal|last=Hueber|first=F.M. |author2=E.M.V. Nambudiri |author3=W.D. Tidwell |author4=E.F. Wheeler|year= 1991|title= An Eocene fossil tree with cambial variant wood structure|journal= Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology|url= http://www.hgms.org/Paleo/Snakewood.pdf|publisher= Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.|location= Amsterdam|volume= 68|issue=3–4 |pages= 257–267|doi=10.1016/0034-6667(91)90027-z |bibcode=1991RPaPa..68..257H }}</ref> ''Mennegoxylon'' is found in the Eocene age Yegua Formation of Texas and Louisiana, USA.<ref name="Hueber" /> Specifically, many examples of snakewood have been found in College Station, Texas.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Singleton|first=Scott|date=January 2017|title=Occurrence of Fossil Woods in Texas, Primarily the Cretaceous and Tertiary|url=http://archives.datapages.com/data/gcags/data/067/067001/305_gcags670305.htm|journal=Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions|volume=67|pages=305–330|via=The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database}}</ref>

It has been classified as a genus in the Nyctaginaceae.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wheeler |first1=Elisabeth |last2=Manchester |first2=Steven R. |title=Woods of the Middle Eocene Nut Beds Flora, Clarno Formation, Oregon, USA |journal=IAWA Journal |date=January 2002 |issue=3 |page=156 |url=http://www.iawa-website.org/uploads/soft/download/iawa_j_supplements/IAWA%20J%20Suppl.3.%20Eocene%20Nut%20Beds.Clarno.pdf |access-date=27 January 2021 |publisher=International Association of Wood Anatomists |location=Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, The Netherlands}}</ref> The type species is ''Mennegoxylon jonesii''.<ref name="Hueber" /> The genus is named for Dr. Alberta Mennega.<ref name="Hueber" />

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Eocene plants Category:Caryophyllales genera Category:Nyctaginaceae Category:Prehistoric angiosperm genera Category:Taxa named by Ward C. Wheeler