LOWER EOCEXE FLORAS OF SOUTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 



logic uiiits aro represented than in ;uiy other 

 geuoral region of North America, suice here the 

 Ohgoceuo, Miocene, and Phocene, iis well as 

 the Eocene, are plant bearing, whereas else- 

 where in Xorth America there are practically 

 no known Oligoccne or Phocene floras. It is 

 planned to consider these floras in subsequent 

 contributions, the preparation of which is 

 already far advanced. 1 am mdebted to many 

 friends for assistance during the progress of the 

 work and wish especially to acknowledge my 

 indebtedness for collections and information to 

 my associates. in the study of the Coastal Plain, 

 particularly Mr. T. Wayland Vaughan, who 

 has had general charge of the Coastal Plam 

 investigations and to whom the credit for their 

 charact.er and comprehensive scope is so largely 

 due. 



The Philippine Bureau of Science furnished 

 me with the picture showing the habitat of the 

 nipa palm (PI. VII, A, p. 177), the New York 

 Botanical Garden with that showing the black 

 mangrove (PI. VII, B), and the Augustana 

 Book Concern with that showing associations 

 of Coccolobis (PI. VIII, p. 213) at St. CroLx, for 

 all of which I make grateful acknowledgment. 



All measurements of leaves throughout this 

 work are exclusive of petioles, which are given 

 separately wherever they are known. 



AREA COVERED BT REPORT. 



The geographic term "southeastern Xorth 

 America," as used in the present work, can be 

 precisely defined. The area includes the main- 

 land south of latitude 41° N. and east of longi- 

 tude 100° W. These Mmits are fixed bv the 

 events of geologic history, for no Tertiary 

 plants are Ivnown from this area except those 

 preserved in what were coastal deposits, all of 

 which are included within the present Gulf and 

 Atlantic Coastal Plain. 



The region has at no time during the long 

 ages of the Tertiary period been coextensive 

 with the floral or faunal province of which it 

 was a part. From the close of the Cretaceous 

 to the dawn of the Miocene it formed a part of 

 the floral province that included also the vary- 

 ing lands to the south — the Antillean region 

 to the southeast and the Central American 

 country to the southwest, both avenues of more 

 or less close connection with northern South 

 America. Too little is known of either the ge- 



ologic historv or the Tertiary flora of the Antil- 

 lean or Mexican regions to bring them within 

 the scope of the present discussion, although 

 both present a vai"iety of problems of almost 

 infinite interest, and doubtless the history of 

 the evolution of the Tertiary floras of south- 

 eastern Xorth America can not be fully de- 

 ciphered, even in its broader details, until these 

 strategic areas are studied. 



Xor did the floral province during the Ter- 

 tiary terminate on the north with latitude 41°. 

 Obviouslv, the coastal flora that is so larsclv 

 represented in the collections studied did not 

 continue inland as a unit over the land remote 

 from the estuaries and coastal lagoons in which 

 the rehcs of these floras were preserved. At the 

 same time there is much evidence to show that 

 the land was low, at least during the Eocene and 

 Oligocene, and the fortunate preservation of 

 some evidence of the inland flora in the fluvia- 

 tile or lacustrine lignites at Brandon, Vt., sub- 

 stantiates the conclusion that the pre-Miocene 

 Tertiary flora had the same general facies 

 throughout tliis whole area and extended 

 northward beyond the limits fixed at the be- 

 ginning of this chapter. 



Most of the fossils discussed in the present 

 study came from the area known as the Missis- 

 sippi embayment, and mainly from a relatively 

 small area in this extensive region in Louisiana, 

 Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missis- 

 sippi. The limits of this area are also fixed by 

 the geologic history of the region, since here the 

 shaUow shifting marginal waters furnished al- 

 most ideal conditions for receiving and preserv- 

 ing the vegetable debris of the near-bj-maiidand. 



The area thus defined embraces rouglily 

 1.. 500, 000 square mUes and in times past 

 doubtless furnished congenial habitats for sev- 

 eral thousand specific tj^jes, of wliich we can 

 never hope to know more than a small number. 

 When it is recalled that nearly all these types 

 have irrevocably vanished and that this vast 

 area is tenanted to-da_v by an entirely new set 

 of plants, some idea of the dynamic and epic 

 character of the floral history is forced upon 

 the dullest imagination. 



OUTLINE OF GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 



The geologic historv of tliis region includes 

 the withdrawid of the marine waters of the 

 late Upper Cretaceous Mississippi embayment 



