238 



l.OWEK EOCKXE Fr.OliAS OF SOUTHEASTEliX NORTU AMERICA. 



to those of Cxfolplmtcs (Po)-l-inf)ovia?) acu- 

 leatajolia and aro authenticated by their asso- 

 ciation with the characteristic seeds and torose 

 pods. No such certainty exists regarding the 

 Wilcox form, which may be only a small obo- 

 vate form of C«salpinites. Forms froni the 

 European Oligocene and Miocene referred to 

 the genus Edwardsia Salisbury, of the Papili- 

 onacefe (Sophoreje"), recent species of which in- 

 habit New Zealand and South America, are not 

 unlike the present species. This is especially 

 true of Edwardsia parvifoUa Heer ' from the 

 Aquitanian of Switzerland. Another similar 

 fossil form is one from the Tertiary of Bolivia, 

 described by Engelhardt - as Hed i/mrum. bolk'i- 

 anum (Papilionacene) and compared with the 

 existing Hedysarum falcatum De CandoUe, a 

 species ranging from Mexico through Central 

 America to Brazil and Peru. 



Occurrence. — Lagrange formation (in beds of 

 Wilcox age), Puryear, Henry County, Tenn. 

 (collected by E. W. Berry.) 



Collection. — ^U. S. National Museum. 



Genus GLEDITSIOPHYLLUM Berry. 



Gleditsiophyi-l™ eocenicum Berry, n. sp. 



Plate XLVI, figures 1-7. 



Description. — Leaves compound, odd-pin- 

 nate, thereby differing from the modern spe- 

 cies of Gleditsia. Petiole rather stout, slightly 

 enlarged proximad, about 3 centimeters in 

 length, without a petiolar gland. Leaflets 

 subopposite to alternate, 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters 

 apart, differing in size, ovate-lanceolate to 

 lanceolate in outline, more or less inequilateral, 

 the apex bluntly pointed or more or less 

 rounded and the base pointed and more or less 

 inequilateral. The arrangement is opposite to 

 alternate, as m Gleditsia. Terminal leaflet does 

 not differ from the lateral leaflets except that 

 it is slightly larger in many specimens. Length 

 ranges from 3.5 to 6.35 centimeters and aver- 

 ages about 4.5 to 5 centimeters. Maximum 

 width, which is below the middle, ranges from 

 7 to 13.5 miOimeters and averages about 8 

 millimeters. Margins entire, but minutely un- 

 dulate in some specimens. Leaf substance con- 

 sistent, comparable with that of Gleditsia 



1 Heer, Oswald, Flora tertiaria Helvetia!, vol. 3, p. 107, i)l. 133, fig. 41, 

 1859. 



^Engelhardt, nermann, Xaturwiss. Gesell. Isis in Dresden Aoh., 

 1891, p. 7, pi. 1, ngs. 02, 63. 



triacanthos Linne. Leaflets petiohilate. Petio- 

 lules stout, recm"ved, about 2 millimeters in 

 length, retictilateh" wrinkled, as in modern 

 forms. Jfidribs stout, somewhat curved, prom- 

 inent on the lower surface of the leaflet. Sec- 

 ondaries generally 9 or 10 subopposite pairs, 

 tliin ])ut distinct. They branch from the mid- 

 rib at angles of about 45°, (-urving upward, 

 camptodrome. Tertiary venation nearly as 

 prominent as tlie secondary. It consists of 

 branches from the midril) that p;u';illol tlie sec- 

 ondaries and help to form the internal polygo- 

 nal meshes and marginal branches whicli arch 

 in that region. 



Tills species, which ranges from about the 

 middle to the top of the Wilcox, shows a con- 

 siderable diversity in the size and outline of 

 its leaflets, which are not, however, as dissimi- 

 lar in this respect as the leaflets on a single leaf 

 of the existing Gleditsia triacanthos. Some of 

 the leaves of Gleditsiophijllum eocenicum are de- 

 cidedly inequilateral, the base being nearly 

 straight and narrowly cuneate on one side of 

 the midrib and broad and fully rounded on the 

 other side. Some of the leaflets 'are narrow 

 and somewhat falcate, with pointed tips, and 

 othere are broad, with rounded tips. Narrow 

 leaflets may have rounded tips and broad h^af- 

 iets pointed tips. Most of these variations are 

 shown in the specimens figured, in several of 

 wliich tlie leaflets are stiU attached to the leaf 

 stalk. The species is well characterized, how- 

 ever, the sharply impressed thin venation being 

 sufficient for its identification. It is repre- 

 sented by an abundance of material, which in 

 many respects is very similar to modern spe- 

 cies of Gleditsia. Naturally it resembles nu- 

 merous allied modern genera with tins type of 

 foliage, and there aro numerous allied fossil 

 forms with wliich it may be compared. It dif- 

 fers from Gleditsia in its odd-pinnate character, 

 wliich is also a feature that serves to distinguish 

 it from Cassia, as does also the absence of a 

 petiolar gland. 



Gleditsia pliyUum, eocenicum beara a general 

 resemblance to the genus Podogonium,^ sev- 

 eral species of which are so common in the later 

 Tertiary of Europe and also present in North 

 America. Podogonium generally has, how- 

 ever, a broadly rounded ape.x and inequilateral 



»Heer, Oswald, op. cit., p. 113. 



