246 



LOWER EOCENE FLORAS OF SOUTUEASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 



It comes from the Oligocene of Doerstewitz, 

 Saxony. 



Occurrence. — Lagrange formation (in bods of 

 Wilcox age), Piirvear, licarv Count v, Tena. 

 (collected by E. W. Berry). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



D.\LBERGIA AVILCOXIANA Bcny, 11. Sp. 

 Plates LIU, figure 7. and LIV, figures 1 and 2. 



Description. — Leaflets small, obovate in gen- 

 eral outline, petiolulate. Apex broacUy rounded, 

 conspicuously emarginatc, the apical lobes 

 separated by the width of the relatively very 

 broad midrib. Sides fuU and evenly rounded, 

 becoming straighter and narrowing from above 

 the middle to the narrowly cuneato l>ase. 

 Length about 12 millimetere. Maximum width, 

 slightly above the middle, about 5.5 niillimeter.?. 

 Margins entire. Texture relatively coriaceous. 

 Petiolule relatively long and stout, about 3.5 to 

 4 millimeters in length. Midrib very stout and 

 prominent, slightly curved. Secondary system 

 consists of four or five alternate pairs of sec- 

 ondaries, relatively thin and but slightly dif- 

 ferentiated from the tertiary system, with 

 •which they tend to merge; they diverge from 

 the midrib at angles of about 45°, curving up- 

 ward subparallel with the lateral margins, and 

 ai'c camptodrome. Tertiary system comprises 

 veins parallel with the secondaries that anasto- 

 mose by dichotomous forking, joined by stiU 

 finer transverse nervillos, more or less im- 

 mersed in the leaf substance. 



Tliis species may be compared with the same 

 fossil forms as Dalhergia eocenica Berry. It 

 differs from that species in its smaller size, long 

 petiolule, more differentiated and fewer sec- 

 ondaries, and in lacking the oblong form of that 

 species. It is not common in the large amount 

 of material collected and may have been un- 

 common along the Wilcox coast. 



Occurrence. — Lagrange formation (in beds of 

 Wilcox age), Puryear, Henry County, Tenn. 

 (collected by E. W. Berry). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



Dalbergia monospermoides Berry, n. sp. 



Plate LIV, figure 3. 



Description. — Pods of small size, ovate in 

 outline, pointed at both ends, pedunculate, 

 compressed, with a single mature seed. Length 

 exclusive of peduncle about 2.3 centimeters. 



Maximum width, about midway l)etween the 

 apex and tlie l)aso, about 1.3 centimeters. 

 Peduncle stout and straigiit. al>out 4 millime- 

 ters in length. These small potls are inequi- 

 lateral in side view, the dorsal suture being less 

 full and curved than the ventral side, keeled. 

 Ventral margin thickened. Surface indis- 

 tinctly veined with close anastomosing trans- 

 verse nervilles. Texture subcoriaceous. The 

 singli^ mature seed is centrally located, about 7 

 millimeters in diameter. 



Tliis species, represented by a few mostly im- 

 perfect pods at the Puryinir locality, seems 

 clearly referable to the genus Dall)ergia and is 

 closely comparable with the pods of several 

 existing species characterized by their rela- 

 tively small legumes. It very likely represents 

 one or the other Wilcox species which have 

 been referred to this genus on the basis of their 

 foliage, but since this can not be demonstrated 

 it is given a specific name. Among previously 

 described fossil forms it may be compared with 

 Dalhergia phlthopteixi Saporta ' and Dalbergia 

 microcarpa Saporta - of the lower Oligocene of 

 southeastern France, both of which are even 

 smaller than the Wilcox species but other\vise 

 very similar. 



Tliis species suggests that ocean cun-ents 

 played a part in the distribution of the Wilcox 

 Dalbergias, for, according to Schimj^er, the 

 pods of the very similar existing Dalbergia 

 monosperma are buoyant. Guppy '■ found these 

 pods in the drift of the Rewa estuary and 

 states that they will float uninjured for montlis. 



Occurrence. — Lagrange formation (in beds of 

 Wilcox age), Puryear, Henry County, Temi. 

 (coflected by E. W. Berry). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



Dalbergia tennesseensis Berry, n. sp. 

 Plate LIV, figure 4, 



Description. — Leaflets relatively large, mark- 

 edly uiequilateral, elliptical, or obovate in 

 general outline, the apex rounded or emargi- 

 imte, inequilateral, and the base cmieate, 

 nearly equilateral. Length about 2.5 centi- 

 meters. Maximum width, in the middle jiart 

 of the leaflet, about 11 or 1 2 millimeters. Mar- 



i Saporta, G. de, Dernifires adjonctions ii la florc fossile d'Aix-en- 

 Provence, pt. 2, p. llti, pi. 18, (ig. 18, ISX'J. 



Udem, p. 117, pl. IS, fig. 19. 



^ Guppy, U. B., Observations of a naturalist in the I'acilic, vol.2, 

 Plant dispersal, p. 529, 1900. 



