COMPOSITION OF THE FLORA. 



123 



Portu<z;al. In hcds of siiiiihir asjo in oiistin'u 

 iVnierica (Muryluiul uiul \'iigiiii;i) llicrc am 2 

 well-markod species, which arc referred fo 

 Araha?phylhi(n and are clearly tlie ancestors of 

 the nunierons species of Aralia so conmion in 

 the Upper Cretaceous of tlial n^ion. \'erv 

 similar forms, some of them identical, are founti 

 m the Cretaceous on hotli sides of the Atlantic. 

 There are 15 species ui the Perucer IxhIs 

 (Cenomanian) of Bohemia and Moravia and 

 about the same number in the Dakota sand- 

 stone of the western United States. Along the 

 east coast of the United States there are 9 

 species in the Raritan formation, 8 in the 

 Magothy formation, and 1 each in the Black 

 Creek formation of North Carolma, the Eutaw 

 formation of Georgia, the Tuscaloosa formation 

 of Alabama, and the Woodbme sand of Texas. 

 In Greenland there are 2 species in the Atane 

 beds and a third m the Patoot beds. In the 

 Upper Cretaceous there are 2 species in 

 Bohemia, 2 in Westphalia, and 1 in Colorado. 

 Australia contams a species and 10 supposed 

 varieties of Aj-alia m the Upper Cretaceous 

 beds. In addition to the foregoing dis])lay of 

 Aralia, a number of well-marked species of the 

 allied genus Araliopsoides (Berry, 1911) have 

 been found in the Raritan, Magothy, and Da- 

 kota formations, so that the araliaceous stock 

 was evidently well differentiated and cosmopoli- 

 tan before the close of the Cretaceous period.' 



There are more than a score of Eocene 

 species of Aralia which are especially common 

 in the Fort Union of the western United States 

 and the Paleocene of Belgium. The 3 Wilcox 

 species are not common m the Wilcox, though 2 

 of them are common Fort Union species, and 

 the third was described originally from western 

 Greenland. In addition there are species in 

 the Denver formation, the Green River forma- 

 tion, and in Oregon, New Zealand, Italy, and 

 the south of England. 



There are more than 20 Oligocene species, 

 especially in the Sannoisian of southeastern 

 France, from which 14 species have been 

 dcscrilied. All the other Oligocene records are 

 also European. 



Thci'e are also about 25 Miocene species dis- 

 tributed over North America, Europe, Aus- 

 tralia, and Asia. Some of the California 

 species, such as Aralia whitneyi, are clearly the 



1 Berry. E. W., Aralia in .\raerican paleobotany: Bot. Gazette, vol.36, 

 pp. 421-J28, 1903. 



ancestors of existing forms from the cast coast 

 of Asia. A fruit (Aralia'carimni) is desci'ibed 

 from the Miocene of i'russia. Tliere ai-e in 

 addition between 15 mid 20 fossil s])ccies of 

 Aralia more or less doubt fully connected witii 

 other genera of the family. Tliese forms 

 include a sptn-ies of Art lirophylluni, doubtfully 

 identilied from the n])p('i' OligoctMie of France; 

 a species of Cephaloj)anax ( '.) from the lower 

 Miocene of Franct;; st^vcral forms of Sciado- 

 phyUuni (0 from Greenland, Bohemia, and 

 France; and species of Paratropia ( from the 

 Paleocene, Oligocene, and Miocene of Franco 

 and the Miocene of Bohemia. 



There are 2 species of Oreopanax in the Wil- 

 cox flora, one of them exceedingly well marked 

 and clearly referable to the section Digitata- of 

 Oreopanax. This genus contains about SO 

 existing species divided into simple, lobate, and 

 digitate leafed sections, confined to tropical 

 America, though its fossil forms occur in the 

 Paleocene, Tongrian, and Acjuitanian of France. 

 The modern Asiatic genus xVcantliopanax 

 Decaisnc and Planchon is represented l)y 

 Oligocene species in France and Germany and 

 by a Miocene species in Japan. 



The genus Panax Linne, which contains about 



6 existing species in Asia and North America, 

 is represented by several fossil forms, based on 

 numerous characteristic fruits as well as leaves. 

 It occurs from Greenland to Alabama along the 

 west coast of the Atlantic and in the Perucc-r 

 beds of Bohemia (Araliphyllum). It includes 

 5 Oligocene species in Europe and 6 Miocene 

 species in Europe and Colorado. The genus 

 Cussonia Thunberg, which contains about 25 

 jMrican species in the existing flora, is doubt- 

 fully recorded from the Albian of Portugal. 

 It is present in the Perucer beds of Bohemia 

 (CussoniphyUum) and in the Oligocene of 

 France and Greece. 



The genus Hedera Linne, which includes only 

 3 existing species of Europe, Asia, ami Africa, is 

 represented by numerous and weU-defined fossil 

 forms. The forms from the Potomac group of 

 Maryland and Vuginia described by Fontaine 

 as species of Hedcn^phyllum tu'i; entirely 

 worthless. No less than 15 species of lledera 

 have been described from the Upper Crctac(H)us 

 of both America and Europe. There are about 



7 Eocene species in Greenland, Alaska, the 

 Fort ITnion of the western l-nited States, and 

 the Paleocene of Belgium and France. The 



