48 



LOWER EOCENE FLOKAS OF SOUTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 



quiet waters. They are crowileil with leaves 

 that lie horizontally, hut not in matted layers. 

 There is no evidence of seasonal aecuniulations 

 such as occur in supposedly similar situations 

 at the present time, but an evenly distributed 

 succession of an unusual variety of forms, some 

 of them of large size and only a fcnv with their 

 petioles broken or acuminate forms with their 

 tips missing. The jjlants nuist have gro-\\ni 

 near at liand, for they could not have with- 

 stood mucli transportation. Indeed most of 

 the forms are evidently coastal types. 



I picture the Wilcox conditions here as an 

 area at the mouth of a Wilcox stream of low 

 gradient, carrying only the finest sediment, that 

 emptied into a lagoon lined on the landwarel 

 side by a sand beach su]i])orting a typical sub- 

 tropical strand vegetation and separated by a 

 considerable barrier beach from the main body 

 of emba^Tuent waters. That it was not an 

 estuary or bayou seems to be indicated by the 

 lack of carbonaceous muds and the presence of 

 a few gypsum crystals. The contact witii the 

 underlying beds of Midway age can not be far 

 below the base of the section, becaus';" beds of 

 that age outcrop a few miles to the eastward. 

 Driven weUs, which oljtain abundant water at 

 depths of 100 to 115 feet, must tap the basal 

 sands of Wilco.x age. Though this flora is 

 within 100 feet of the beds of llidway age in 

 this latitude, and practically the lowest horizon 

 with respect to the adjacent shore line of what 

 I regard as the Wilcox embayment at which 

 fossil plants have been found, it by no means 

 follows that it is near tlie base of the Wdcox 

 group as a whole or as compared with locaU- 

 ties to the south. 



The Wilco.x transgression may have been 

 relatively rapid, but I would not expect depo- 

 sition to have as yet commenced in nortliern 

 Teinu!ssee during the time of the deposition of 

 the Xanafolia formation of the Ala])ama sec- 

 tion. Certainly the flora found at Puryear and 

 farther northward at WicklifTe, Ky., contains 

 some elements not found in tlie Holly Springs 

 sand (middle Wilcox) at localities in northern 

 Mississippi and in contemporaneous beds in 

 southern Tennessee, and some of tliese ele- 

 ments may be legitimately considered as later, 

 since they resemble forms from tlie flora of the 

 Yegua or "Cockfield " Claiborne. A list of the 

 Wilcox species identified in tlie Puryear col- 

 lections follows: 



Anacaidites metopifolia. 

 Anacaiclites minor. 

 Anacardite.s falcatus. 

 Aiiacardito.s grovilleafoUa. 

 Anacaiditcs jmryparonsis. 

 Anoiinia ooceiiica. 

 Annua arapla. 

 Anona eolif;nitica. 

 Anona wilcoxiana. 

 Antholitlni.s anmdites. 

 Apocynophyllum sapindifoliuni, 

 Apocynophylluin tubellarum. 

 Aporynophylluni wLlcoxense. 

 Artlirutaxis (?) eolignitioa. 

 ArtcicariJdides wilcoxcnsis. 

 AviccMinia ooceiiica. 

 Bauisteria fruc-tuo.sa. 

 Baiii-stcria pseudolaui-il'olia. 

 Banisteria rejiandifolia. 

 Banksia puryeareiisis. 

 Bauksia sat'fordi. 

 Banksia tenuifolia. 

 Bombacites formosus. 

 Bombacites wilcoxianus. 

 Bumelia pseudolionida. 

 Bunic4ia -n-ilcoxiana. 

 Caesalpinia wilcoxiana. 

 CiEsalpinite-s aculeatafolia. 

 Calycites davillaformis. 

 Calyptranthes eocenica. 

 Canavalia acuminata. 

 Canavalia eocenica. 

 Capparis eocenica. 

 Carapa eoliguitica. 

 Carjiolitlius did yolomoides. 

 Carpolitlius lienryon.sis. 

 Carpolitlius hyoseritifoiniis. 

 Carpolitlius prangosoidos. 

 Car])olithus proteoidos. 

 Carpolithus puryearensis. 

 Cassia eolignitica. 

 Cassia fayetteusis. 

 Cassia gleiini major. 

 Cassia odoratifolia. 

 Cassia puryearensis. 

 Cedrela puryearensis. 

 Cedrela wilcoxiana. 

 Chrysobalanus eocenica. 

 Chrysobalaiuis inaK|ualis. 

 Cinnamomum obluugatum. 

 Ciuuiunoinum vera, 

 ("itropliyllum wilcoxiauuin. 

 Coccolol)is eolignitica. 

 Coccolobis uvilerafolia. 

 Combretum obovalis. 

 Combretum wilcoxensis. 

 Conocarpus eoligniticu.^. 

 Cordia (eocenica. 



Crotono])hyllum a])]x>ndirulatum. 

 (^rotouoidiyllum eocenieura. 

 Cnpanitcs eoligiuticus, 

 Dalhcrgia cDiM'uira. 

 Dalbergia mouospermoides. 



