172 



LOWER EOCEKE FLOHAS OF SOUTH EASTKHX XOUTII A JI KKICA. 



Tuxodium distichttm miocenxivi. Heer, idem, vol. 3, pt. 2, 



pp. 9, 13, IG, 19, pi. 1, figs. ],3d, 1.5b, 4b: pi. 2, fijrs. 



20d, 21; pi. 4, fig. o, 1874. 

 Heer, idem, vol. 4, p. .57, pi. 13, ligy. 12, 13; i)l. 25, figs. 



9, 13, 1877. 

 lleer, idem, vol. 5, pt. 1, p. 23, pi. 2; pt. 4, p. 33, pi. 8, 



fig. 2.5b; pi. 9, fig. 1; pt. (!, pp. 49, 52, pi. 15, figs. 



1, 2, 10-12; pi. 7, pp. 22, (iO, pi. 1, fig. 9; pi. 70, fig. 

 11; pi. 87, fig. 7; pi. 88, fig. 2b: pi. 96, figs. 8, 9, 1878. 



Dawson, Roy. Soc CaiuuUi Trans., vol. S, sec. 4, 



p. 79, 1882. 

 Nathorst, Pal. Abh. Dames uud Key.ser, vol. 4, Heft 3, 



p. 7, pi. 1, fig. 4, 1888. 

 Ettingshausen , Die fossilc I'lora von Schonegg boi 



Wies in Steiermai-k, pt. 1, p. 10, 1890. 

 Peola, Le conifere terziarie del Piemonte, p. 53, 1893: 



Riv. ital. paleont., vol. 5, p. 96, 1899: Soc. geol. 



ital. Boll., vol. 18, pp. 45, 228, 1899. 

 Newberry, U. S. Geol. Survey Jlon. 35, p. 22, 1898. 

 Paolucci, Nuovi material! e ricerche critiche sulle 



piante fossili terziarie dei ge.ssi di Ancona, p. 12, |il. 



2, figs. 12-14, 1896. 



Ruowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 27, 1902. 

 Knowlton, Alaska, vol. 4, p. 152, Han-iman Alaska 



Expedition, 1904. 

 Penhallow, Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., 2(1 ser., vol. S, 



sec. 4, pp. 51, 68, 1902. 

 Penhallow, idem, vol. 9, sec. 4, p. 36, 1903. 

 Penhallow, idem, 3d ser., vol. 1, sec. 4, pp. 301, 312, 



314, 315, 1908. 

 Penhallow, Canada Geol. Sm-vey Summary for 1904, 



pp. 7, 8. 

 Menzel, K. preuss. geol. Landesanstalt Abh., Neuo 



Folge, Heft 46, p. 6, 1906. 

 Knowlton, Washington Acad. Sci. Proc, vol. 11, pp. 



204, 207, 215, 1909. 

 BeiTy, Jour. Geology, vol. 17, p. 22, pi. 1, 1909. 

 SchuUeriis, Siebenb iirgischer A'erein Naturw. Her- 



mannstadt Verb. u. Mitt., vol. 59, p. 147, fig. 43, 1909. 

 Reininger, K.-k. geol. Reichsanstalt Jahrb., vol. 58, 



p. 510, 1909. 

 Engel, Geognostischer WegweLser durch ^\'iirttemberg, 



p. 561, 1908 (1909). 

 Gothan, Die Natur, vol. 6, pp. 101, 102, fig. 57b, 1909. 

 Fritel, Soc. g^ol. France Mem. 40, p. 24, 1910. 

 Abus nevadensis. Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. and Geog. 



Survey Terr. Ann. Rept. for 1873, p. 372, 1874. 

 Tuxodium dislichum. Von Gellhorn, K. preuss. geol. 



LandesanstallJahrb. fur 1893 .Vbh., p. 3, pi. 1, fig. 1. 

 Rein, Naturh. Verein preuss. Rheinlande und West- 



falens Sitzungsber. 1907, pp. 37, 38, 1908. 

 Fliegel, Blatt Frechen, Gradabt. 66, No. 3, p. 17, 1909. 

 Keilhack and Schmierer, Blatt Senftenberg, Gradabt. 



59, No. 29, p. 13, 1909. 

 Fritel, Cong. Soc. sav. Conipt. rend., 1908, p. 316, 



1909. 



Description. — Heer's description in ISoo is as 

 follows: 



T. ramis perennilm.s I'oliis stiuanuilormiijus tectis, 

 raraulis caducis liliformibiis, foliis approximatis distanti- 



bus, alternls. ilistidiis, ' reviter jietiulatis, Hiieari-lanceo- 

 latis, phuiis. uninerviis. 



Ivcniains of foliagr, cone scales, seeds, slaiiii- 

 iialo calkins and wood, which have been re- 

 ferred to this species, characterize^ tiie Tertiary 

 of Eurasia and North America. The records 

 embrace inmimerable localities and horizons, 

 from the island of Sakhalin westward to 

 France and Spitzbergen; from Grimiell Land, 

 -Uaska, and Greenland southward to Wj'oming 

 and Mrginia. The European records extend 

 from the Sparnacian to the close of the Pliocene 

 antl the American records from the Lance for- 

 mation (Eocene?) to the Calvert formation of 

 the Chesapeake Miocene. 



It is quite po.ssible that more than one 

 botanic species is represented by this host of 

 records, and the impracticability of separating 

 some of them from the existing bald cypress, 

 Taxodium disticJium Richard, ;is well as a con- 

 siderable range of variation, lends weiglit to 

 this conclusion. Plowever, no satisfactory 

 constant characters for a segregation are ob- 

 servable, and the conclusion is inevitable that a 

 single or closely related series of forms, very 

 much like the modern bald cypress in characters 

 and habit, extended widely over tlie northern 

 hemisphere during the Tertiar\- period. 



In general the deciduous twigs are larger llum 

 in Taxodium distichum, and the leaves are 

 longer, broader, and more lanceolate. There 

 is, however, considerable variation even on a 

 single twig. Thus, the larger specimen figured 

 from Pmson shows some elliptical leaves like 

 those of Taxodium occidentale Newberi'v.' 

 They may be distmguished from the contem- 

 poraneous Sequoia langsdorfii (Brongniaii) 

 Heer,- an equally widespread form with wliich 

 they are liable to be confused, owing to tiie 

 fact that their leaves are narrowed to a petiole 

 at the base and are not decurrent. 



The abundant preservation of the twigs 

 strongly reminds the collector of tiie occtu'rence 

 of tlie twigs of the modern species hi the Pleis- 

 tocene deposits of our .Soulliern States or the 

 ap])earance of the estuaries and l)ayous after a 

 windstorm, when the surface of the water is 

 thickly strewn with the floating twigs and in 



1 Xewbprry. J. S., U. 8. Geol. Survey Mon. K, p. 23, pi. 20, figs. 1-2, 

 1W)S. 



- Ueer, Oswald, Flora tertiaria ndveiia-, vol. 1, p. 54, pi. 20, fij;. 2; 

 pi. 21, ng. 4, Kha. 



