116 



LOWER KOCEXK FLOHAS OF SOTttHEASTERN' NORTH AMERICA. 



Ocotca. Tho third suI)<i(mius of Ocot(>!i, Strvch- 

 nochipluic, I liiivo failcnl to recognize in the 

 Eocene flora of this area. 



'r\w only apparent oihUty in distril)ution 

 shown hy the Wilcox i^anracefe in coni])arison 

 with recent floras of tro])ical America is the 

 al)unclanc(> of Cinnanionnini, anil this simply 

 confirms the well-known cosmopolitanism of 

 this genus in the early Tertiary. Grisebach 

 n^cords only 28 species of Laurace» in his flora 

 of the British West Indies, most of which are 

 not coastal forms, although many have a wide 

 range from lowlands to mountains. Hemsley 

 records only 36 species of Lauracege in his flora 

 of Mexico and Central America, though Brazil 

 on the other hand has furnished more than 350 

 species. As regards the Lauraceis, those of the 

 Wilcox, which number 30 different forms, are 

 more closely comparable with the more abvm- 

 daiit modern representation of this family in 

 nortbern South America. Tliis receives more or 

 less confirmation from a study of the remainder 

 of the Wilcox flora. AH the facts seem to show 

 that the early Eocene floras of the Mississippi 

 emba_^Tncnt are much more like those existmg 

 at the present time along the Caribbean Sea m 

 Central America and northern South America 

 tiian they are like those of the West Indies. I 

 do not moan that the Wilcox flora has not many 

 points of resemblance to tho lowland flora of the 

 West Indies and that of the Florida Keys. 

 Tliey contain very many common types but 

 with this difference. The Mississippi embay- 

 mcnt Eocene floras represent a maximum 

 northward extension of a flora like that which 

 now inhabits northern South America. At the 

 end of the Oligocene, along with the southward 

 migration of the temperate Miocene fauna as 

 far as Florida, this flora retired to the South 

 American mainland, and the present floras of 

 the West Indies, Florida Keys, Bahamas, and 

 Bermuda represent a later northward migration 

 from that area, a migration in which some of 

 the Wilcox types were left behind. 



The existing, species of Cmnamomum ' nmn- 

 ber about 50. They are confined to the oriental 

 Tropics except for their extension into the 

 warmer, more; humid part of tho Temperate 

 Zone in Japan, and they have tlieir chief center 

 of differentiation in tho elevated region of 

 Burma, Siani, Cochin-China, and Malaysia, 



' Staub, M., Die Geschichte des genus Cinnamomum, Budapest, 1905. 



although they an^ cultivated in all tropical 

 countries and outside th(^ Tropics in Europe, 

 Africa, and North America. Their fruits are 

 eaten by birds, which seed tluMU freely so that 

 tiiey commonly escape from cultivation. Thus 

 Cinnamomum camphora (Linne) Nees and 

 Elx^rmaier is naturalized throughout peninsular 

 Floi'ida and the commercial Cinitamomum zcy- 

 Idiilciini Breyn is readily naturalized in the 

 same maun(>r from the oriental camphor ])l:ui- 

 tations. 



Though the i-(X'ords for constructing the 

 geologic history of Cinnamomum are far from 

 comph^te the known fossil species are more 

 numerous than the recent species, and, as is 

 th(^ case \vith so many plant groups, the exten- 

 sion of range during the Upper Cretaceous and 

 Tertiary is surprising. The original home of 

 the genus is unknown, for iff appears in the 

 early part of the Upper Cretaceous at about the 

 same time in New Zealand, Australia, central 

 Europe, Greenland, and North and South 

 America. The European and North American 

 records appear to be slightly older than the 

 others and would indicate that the Asiatic 

 region may have been the original home of the 

 genus, wliich spread northeastward across the 

 Bering region to America and northwestward 

 into the European region, which was largely 

 an archipelago at that time. 



The Eocene records include all the continents 

 except the Antarctic Continent and South 

 America. The Oligocene records are chiefly 

 European and African, although the gcTius is 

 stiU represented in the Alum Blufl' formation 

 of Florida. During the Miocene Cinnamomum 

 was abundant in Europe and also occurred in 

 Asia but appears to have become extinct in 

 North America— at least there are no conclu- 

 sive North American records. Some fruits 

 from the lignites of Brandon, Vt., have Ixhmi 

 referred to (Tmnamomum, but these hgnites 

 are in my opinion pre-Miocene in age. The 

 Pliocene records are entirely European and 

 East Indian. The genus appears to have lin- 

 gered as a common type in Mediterranean 

 Europe until the changing climates that ush- 

 ered in the Pleistoi-ene glacial ion caused its 

 extinction. Any conniH'ted distribution with 

 its jiresent oriental home across southwestern 

 Asia had alrivuly Ix'cn interrupted by tho oro- 

 genie movements and tin; di>velopment of arid 

 conditions in southwestern Asia. 



