190 



LOWER EOCEXE FLORAS OF SOUTHEASTERN XORTH AMERICA. 



Occurrence. — Lagrange formation (in IxmIs of 

 Wilcox ago), Purycar, Henry County, Tonn. 

 (collected" by E. W. BoiTy). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



Drtophtllum moorii (Lesqiiereiix). 

 Plates XXII, figm-e 1, and XXIII, figure,- 1-3. 



Quercus Moorii. Le.squereux, Am. Philo.':. Soe. Trans., 



vol. 13, p. 415, pi. l(i, figs. 1-3, 1869. 

 Le.squereux, U. S. Nat. Mus. Proc, vol. 11, p. 31, 



1888. 

 Knowlton in Glenn, L. C, XT. S. Geol. Survey Water- 



SuiJjiIy Paper 164, p. 38, 1906. 

 Knowllonin Lindgren, Waldemar, U. S. Geol. Survey 



Prof. Paper 73, pp. 60, 61, 1911. (Eocene near 



Susan ville, Lassen County, Cal.) 



Description. — Lesquereux, in 1S69, gave the 

 following description: 



Q. foliis coriaceis, oblanceolatis, vel obovatis oblongis, 

 elongatis, subobtusis, margine remote, breviter sen-atis; 

 nervis secundariis, sub angulo latiore egredientibus, curva- 

 tis, craspedodromis. 



This handsome species has not been foiuid in 

 any recent collections made by me from the 

 embaymcnt area and is consequently repre- 

 sented by Lesquereux's figured specimens, by 

 one or two additional fragments fortunately 

 preserved in the Hilgard collection, and by a 

 few specimens collected by Prof. Glenn at 

 Wickliffe, Ky., and by Dr. Vaughan at Old Port 

 Caddo Landing, Tex. The spec miens repre- 

 sented bj^ Lesquereux's figures 1 and 2 have 

 been photographed and reproduced in Plate 

 XXIII, and a tlihd figure of the lower part of a 

 medium-sized leaf has been reproduced to give 

 some idea of the general outline of the leaf whose 

 upper haK is shown m Lesquereux's figure -3. 

 The species may be somewhat more fully char- 

 acterized as follows: 



Leaves very broadly elliptical-lanceolate in 

 outlmc, difi'ering in size, the length ranging 

 from 14 to 28 centimeters, and the ma.ximum 

 width from 4.5 to 12 centimeters. Widest near 

 the middle, the lateral margins being full and 

 tapering rather abruptly to the point(^d apex and 

 cuneate base. Te.xture coriaceous. Margins 

 entire for a short distance above the petiole, 

 elsewhere set with remote shallow serrate teeth, 

 one at the termmus of each secondary, separated 

 by shallow uiequUat eral, nearly straight sinuses. 

 Midrib stout, rigid, not out of proportion to 

 the size of the leaves nor as stout as indic^ated 

 in Lesquereux's figures 2 and 3. Secondaries 

 numerous, approximately parall<-l, usually op- 



posite or subopposite, branching from ihc mid- 

 rib at regular intervals at angles of about 45°. 

 Then- angle of divergence is more open in the 

 median part of the leaf as well as ui broader 

 specimens, and may be said to range from 40° 

 to 65°. There are about 15 paii-s of stout 

 secondaries, prominent on the lower surface of 

 the leaf. They are nearly straight in larger 

 specimens, but curve more or less distad in 

 the smaller forms. They termmate craspcdo- 

 dromely in the marginal teeth, generally by a 

 slight bending outward, and are camptodrome 

 in the basal, entire-margined portion of the 

 leaf. Tertiaries thin but clearly seen, numer- 

 ous, regidar, and percurreut. 



This species is well characterized and is 

 markedly distmct from other species of Dryo- 

 phyUum, which are abmidant in the Wilcox. 

 It is also distmct from the forms described 

 from other areas Init shows marked similarities 

 to some of the European early Eocene species. 

 In referrmg briefly to other Wilcox species of 

 DryophyUum, it may be noted that Dryophyl- 

 lum •puryearensis Beny is relatively much more 

 slender and elongate, the apex and base gradu- 

 ally narrowed, and the base entu-e for a, con- 

 siderable distance. The margmal teeth are 

 more promment, the intervening smuses more 

 curved, and the secondaries much less numer- 

 ous and more regularly curved. The midrib is 

 relatively much stouter; both it and the sec- 

 ondaries are prominent below, but the ter- 

 tiaries are obsolete, possibly mdicatmg a more 

 coriaceous leaf. 



DryophyUum tennesseensis Beny is somewhat 

 variable in outline and some specimens of this 

 exceedingly abundant species approach Dryo- 

 phyUum. moorii in appearance. They are, 

 however, more lanceolate m outline, being 

 relatively much longer and more slender, and 

 have more numerous, stouter, curved seconda- 

 ries and more prominent teeth. 



The genus DryophyUum is exceedingly well 

 developed in the early Eocene of Europe and a 

 number of these European forms are sintilar to 

 the present species, the most simQar being 

 perhaps DryophyUum levalense Marty ' from the 

 Paleocene (Montian) of Hauuiut m Belgium. 

 This species shows even greater variations in 

 size than DryophyUum mooriA. It has the 

 same broad, abruptly pointed leaves and iden- 



' Marty, Pierre, Mus. tusl. ii:it. lielgique, Extrait M<Sm., vol. !>, p. 15, 

 pis. 2-7, 1907. 



