228 



LOWER EOCEXE FLORAS OF SOUTHEASTERN XORTII AMERICA. 



Grand Junction in Fiiyotte County, Teiui. 

 (collected l)y L. C. Gleiui, also by E. W. Berry U 

 and Wicklifl'e, Ballard County, Ky. (collected 

 hyE.W. Berry). 



Collect tons. — U. S. National Museum. 



Family CffiSALPINIACEffi. 

 Genus CERCIS Linne. 



Cercis wilcoxl\na Berry, n. sp. 

 Plate XLIX, figure 1. 



Description. — Leaves almost circular or 

 sli^htlv cordate in outline, al)out 1 1 centimeters 

 in length by 9.5 centimeters in maximum 

 widtli. Base truncate and very slightly de- 

 current or somewhat cordate. Margins entire, 

 full and rounded, curving upward at the apex 

 to form a slightly extended and ])huitly pointed 

 tip. Primaries, generally five, diverge at 

 acute angles from the thickened top of the 

 petiole. The midrib is the stoutest and the 

 outer laterals the thimiest. The laterals curve 

 slightly outward and then upward in broad 

 sweepmg Imes and ultunately become thin and 

 are miited with a short outward branch. True 

 secondaries, two or three camjitodrome pairs, 

 in apical part of the leaf. The branches from 

 the primaries are more transverse and less 

 distinctly forked than in the existing species, 

 and the fiat camptrodome arches which join 

 their ends in the marginal region are more dis- 

 tuictly contmuations of the outer primaries 

 than they are in the existmg species. 



With these trifling modifications Cercis 

 wilcoxiana is almost identical with the larger 

 leaves of the existing Cercis canadensis Linne 

 (PL XLIX, fig. 2), which ranges from Ontario 

 to Florida and Texas and which is so commonly 

 cultivated under the names of redlnid or Judas 

 tree. This tree is common in the rich soO of 

 stream borders in the midland zone of Mary- 

 land, but its requirements are better satisfied 

 iii our Southern States, where it is a common 

 riverside tree, mostl}' away from the coast and 

 where the banks are not too low. 



In the existing flora the genus consists of 5 or 

 6 species of the warmer temperate ])arts of 

 jbnerica, Europe, and Asia. About 15 fossil 

 species have beeix described, ranging in age 

 from the base of the Eocene tiiroughout the 

 Tcrliar}' and with several of tiie still existmg 

 species appearing in tlu' Pleistocene. 



There is a strong gcMiei'ic likeness among all 

 the fossil species untl the pods as well as the 



leaves are found as fossils. Cercis wilcoriana 

 is larger than the fossil forms with which it 

 may be compared and is perfectly chstinct from 

 the previously described forms from either 

 Europe or America. It is remotely like Cercis 

 deperelita described ])y Watelet ' from the 

 Ypresian of the Paris Basin (gres de BoUeu). 



In pai-tial conthmation of the assumption 

 that it was a form of the rich woods of the 

 Eocene uplands and not a strand or coastal 

 form it is very rare at the two localities in the 

 Wilcox wliere it occui-s, as if it had been brought 

 do\\ii from these uplands by some stream to 

 the area of sedimentation along the coast. 



Occurrence.— B.o]ly Sprmgs sand, \"aughns, 

 near Lamar, Benton County (formerly part of 

 Tippah County), Miss, (collected by L. C. 

 Johnson). Lagrange formation (in beds of 

 Wilcox age), 1 niih; south of Grand Junction, 

 in Fayette County, Tenn. (collected bv E. W. 

 Berry). 



Collections. — U. S. National Museum. 



Genus CASSIA Linne. 



Based on legumes, leaflets unknown: 



Pods long and slender Cassia bnitoncnsis. 



Pods short and Inroad Cassia iii ississippiensis. 



Based on leaflets or leaflets and legumes: 

 Leaflets sessile: 



Large with rounded or emarginate tips. 



Cassia wilcoxiana. 

 Small, pointed at both ends. . Cassia (ennesseensis. 

 Leaflets petiolulate: 



Peliolule long (over 5 millimeters), leaflets emar- 

 ginate Cassia emarginata. 



Petiolule medium (3 to 4 millimetersi: 



Leaflets small, pointed .... Cassia fayettcnsis. 

 Leaflets very large, ovate-lanceolate. 



Cass-ia puryeuTcnsis. 

 Petiolule sliort (less than 3 millimetersi: 



Leaflets small, pointed, inequilateral, slightly 



falcate Cassia marslmlknsis. 



Leaflets medium sized, narrowed to lioth 

 ends, approximately equilateral. 



Cassia glenni. 



Leaflets large, ovate Cassia glenni major. 



Leaflets large, elliptical, approximately equi- 

 lateral Cassia colignitica. 



Leaflets lanceolate to ovale Cassia lov:ii. 



Cassia tennesseensis Berry, n. sp. 



Plate XLIX, figures 3 and 4. 



Description. — Leaves ev(Mily pinnate. Kachis 

 stout. Petiole 2.5 centiniet(u-s in length. Leaf- 

 lets oblic[ue and opposite, small and sessile, or 



' Watelcl, .v., Description dcs planles fossiles du bassin de Paris, p. 

 241, pi. 58, flg. 9, 1800. 



