COMrOSITId.N OV 'I'll I'. ILORA. 



101 



the early Pliocene of Italy, l>ut. the idrntilica- 

 tion is extremely dou!)tfiil. 



The genus Banisteria Liniie cdnlains about. 

 70 existing species of clhnbing or scranihhng 

 slii-ubs, ranguig from the West Indies through- 

 out tropical South America and most numerous 

 in Brazil. It is represented by 4 species, based 

 on both leaves and fruits, in the Wilcox, one of 

 them almost identical with the existing Banh- 

 teria lanrifolia Linne, often rc^ferred to the 

 genus Iletcropterys Kmith, which ranges from 

 southern Mexico tlirough Central America and 

 the West Indies to Colombia. There is an 

 Ypresian species in the south of England; I 

 Oligocene species in France, the Tyrol, iUsace, 

 and StyTia; 4 Miocene species in France, 

 Switzerland, and Ci'oatia; and an early Ter- 

 tiary species in Ecuador. 



Species of Banisteria, along witli chmbing 

 Sapindacese (Paullinia and Serjania) and bam- 

 boos, are common in the great oak forests of 

 upland Mexico, where they are associated with 

 palms of the genu.s Chama>dorea and many 

 ai'borescent Lauracese. 



The genus Banisteriophyllum Ettingshausen, 

 which includes a single Upper Cretaceous and a 

 Tertiary species in eastern Australia, I regard 

 as of very doubtful afhnities. Schenk also states 

 that wood of a malpigliiaceous type occurs 

 among the silicified woods from the Oligocene 

 of the island of Antigua. 



The family Euphorbiacese is sometimes made 

 the type of a distinct order, the Euphorbiales, 

 although the significance of the characters liy 

 which it is segregated from the Geraniales is 

 not obvious. It is an exceedingly large alliance 

 and has about 220 genera and 4,000 existing 

 species (Pax, 1890) of herbs, shrubs, and trees 

 widely distributed throughout the Torrid and 

 Temperate zones. The genus Euphorbia, which 

 comprises more than 700 species, is perhajis (ho 

 most widely distributed genus in the family. 

 A great many of the recent species, particu- 

 larly those of xerophytic character so closely 

 simulating the Cactacese, are of relatively re- 

 cent evolution. The Euphoi-biacea! is the 

 fourth largest family ui the llora of the Mala}^ 

 Peninsula and the Philippines. According to 

 Beccari it is the third family in the Borneo 

 flora; according to llemsley it is the sixth fiim- 

 ily in the flora of Central America; and accord- 

 ing to Koorders it is the fourth family in the 

 flora of the Celebes. 



In such !i multi])licity of existing genera, and 

 species any efl'ort to trace tlie larger features of 

 distribution would occupy more space than it 

 is worth in the present connection. Four ar- 

 borescent genera and .5 species reach the I'nited 

 States in the Florida region, and several more 

 are naturalized in that area. A considerable 

 but relatively insignilicant number are re- 

 corded from the U])|)er Cretaceous and 'i'ci- 

 tia.ry. The fossil records will, however, liave 

 to he greatly increased before they can be said 

 to slied any definite light on the geologic his- 

 tory of the family. Enough is now known, 

 however, to abrogate tlu^ statement made by 

 Schenk ' and rjuoted l)y Pax - that there is no 

 certain evidence of tlie existence of the Eu- 

 phorl)iace£e during the Tertiary. Fossil repre- 

 sentatives of the foUowmg genera have been 

 recorded: Eu))h()rl)ia, a singl(>. species based on 

 a fruit described by lleer from the Swiss Mio- 

 cene: Euphorbioides, based on an inflorescence 

 described by Wessel and Weber fnnir the Aqui- 

 tanian of Ilheni.sh Prussia; Eu])li()rl3iop]iyllum, 

 several species subsequently noted; Maniho- 

 tites, a very ciuxracteristie species from the 

 Upper Creta('eous of Georgia described by me; 

 Ci'otonophyllum, several Upper Cretaceous and 

 Eocene species; Cluytia, reported from the 

 Eocene of the Isle of Wight and the Oligocene 

 of Saxony and Rhenish Prussia. A single spe- 

 cies of each of the follow"ing genera was identi- 

 fied by Ettingshausen from tlie Miocene of Bo- 

 hemia — Adenopeltis, Baloghia, Omalanthus, 

 and Phyllanthus. Conwentz has describes! a 

 euphorbiaceous flower from the Baltic amber 

 (Sannoisian) as Antidesma maximowiczii, and 

 Felix has descril)e(l petrified wood from the 

 Tertiary "of Colombia as Euphorbioxylon. 

 Hm-a-like fruits (Euphorbeoearpum) are also 

 recorded by Knowlton from the lower Eocene 

 (Raton formation) of northeastern New Mex- 

 ico. Engelhardt has recorded species of Om- 

 ))halea Linn6, Tetraplandra Baillon, and Mal- 

 lotus Loureiro from tlu; early Tertiary of Cliile 

 and seeds of Tithjmialus have been recorded by 

 Cockerell from the Wasatch of Wyoming and 

 the "Loup Fork beds" of Kansas. 



Though difference of opinion regardmg the 

 determination of some of these I'ecords is justi- 

 fiable, I regard Manihotites, Euphorbiophyl- 



' Schenk, A., Palaeophytologie, pp. 594-.W7, 1890. 

 5Pax,inEngler, -.\.,and Pranll.K.. Die naturIichenPflaii/.enfamilien, 

 1890. 



