HISTORY OF THE LINDEN AND ASH 175 



acteristic and curiously bracteate fruits as well as a variety of 

 leaves. The lindens are especiall}^ abundant and varied in the 

 late Miocene of southern Europe along the shores of the expand- 

 ing ^lediterranean sea of that time, and in the Pyrenees, the 

 foothills of the Apennines and in the mountains of Transylvania, 

 Styria and Bohemia. The fruit of one of these late Miocene 

 species found near Vienna in Austria and named Tilia vindo- 

 bonensis from the old Roman name of Vienna is shown on the 

 accompanying plate. 



The Miocene records in North America are scanty but the 

 genus was still represented in the Rocky Mountain region hav- 

 ing been found iti deposits of this age in the Yellowstone Park and 

 in the lake basin at Florissant, Colorado, both of which locali- 

 ties are now separated by several hundreds of miles of treeless 

 plains countiy from the westernmost outposts of the existing 

 si>ecies in the river valleys of eastern Kansas and Nebraska. 



The known Pliocene lindens, owing to the rarity of plant beds 

 of this age in North America, are confined to Eurasia, although 

 the genus was undoubtedly present in North America during the 

 Pliocene since it is found in the deposits of the immediately 

 preceding and succeeding times. There are four Pliocene forms 

 recorded from Europe where they are found in variety and 

 abundance in the Auvergne region of France, and in northern 

 Italy. 



Although the Pleistocene records of the linden are not numerous 

 nevertheless lindens are found in deposits of this age in both 

 North America and Europe. Fruits of two different forms occur 

 in Interglacial beds in Germany and Tilia wood is recorded 

 from the lower Pleistocene of Holland. The leaves of the still 

 existing basswood, which is the most wide ranging of our Ameri- 

 can lindens have been found in the Interglacial beds of the Don 

 Valley near Toronto, and another form, or perhaps the same 

 species under another name is found in the late Pleistocene ter- 

 race deposits of the Delaware River in southern New Jersey. 

 Undoubtedly other of the existing species were already in exist- 

 ence and it would not be at all surprising if the southern bass- 

 wood were discovered in the similar river terraces of our southern 

 states. 



