Abstract
Type specimens of
Dryophyllum subcretaceum Debey ex Saporta 1868 from the Paleocene of France, representing the type species of
Dryophyllum, have been reexamined. Although
Dryophyllum has long been used for fossil leaves of supposed fagaceous affinites, the leaf architecture observed in the type specimens of
D. subcretaceum indicates affinities with the Juglandaceae and excludes it from the Fagaceae. The diagnoses of the genus and type species have therefore been emended. As revised, the name
Dryophyllum may be used for fossil leaflets with architecture similar to that of extant
Pterocarya, Juglans, Cyclocarya and
Carya.