250 



LOWEK EOCliXE FLOliAS OF SOUTH EA.STEKX .NDIMU A.MEIUCA. 



Lcfftiiitinositcs? aracliioidcs. Lesquereux, Tho Tertiary 

 flora, p. 301, pi. 59, figs. 13, 14, 1878. 

 Dawson, Geol. Survey Canada Ropt. Progress for 1877- 

 78, p. 18Gb. 1878. " 



Description. — Much material of tliosc strange 

 Icgiiininous fruits has coiuo to h^lit durini; hitc 

 years, ami Lcsquercux's diagnosis may l)i> con- 

 si(kn"ably amphfied, as well as corrected in 

 several jiarticulars, as follows: 



Pods in compound clusters, arranged alter- 

 nately in jiairs on stout flexuous stems, sub- 

 sessile, of a ligneous consistency, fuU and 

 evenly rounded, inflated, about 2.5 centimeters 

 in length and about 1 centimeter wide across 

 the middle, pointed at both ends, mucronate 

 distad, several-seeded, dehiscent. Surface stri- 

 ated; in general there are two series of strite, 

 wrinkles, or corrugations, one set a])pro.\i- 

 mately longitudinal and the other transverse. 

 These striations are to a certain extent the 

 result of compression, since a good many of the 

 pods show rounded bases evidently due to 

 deformation. 



Lesf[uereux compared these forms, which are 

 very comnion in the early Eocene of the Ilocky 

 Mountain region (Raton, Fort Union, Denver, 

 and the like) with the existing Arachis hi/pogsra 

 Linne, a very remote analogy it seems to me. 

 Their most curious feature is the absence of the 

 persistent calyx that is such a widespread fea- 

 ture of legummous fruits, and their well-marked 

 habit of occurring in pairs, a feature not ob- 

 served by Lesquereux, who also speaks of the 

 specimen shown in figure 14 as terminating in a 

 tendril. This is not the case but is an over- 

 sanguine interpretation of the material. Legu- 

 minosities aracJiioides was either a low strag- 

 gling plant of the sandy beaches, comparable 

 perhaps with the modern forms of Baptisia or 

 Crotalaria, or else it was a viiie like the modern 

 species of Abrus. 



Occurrence. — Wilcox group, 3 to 4 miles 

 below Hamilton on Sabine River, .Sabine 

 County, Tex., very common in a grayish 

 sandstone (collected by A. C. Veatch) ; and 

 1^ miles northeast of Mansfield, De Soto 

 Parish, La. (collected by G. C. Matson and O. 

 B. Hopkins). 



Ciilhctldn. — New York Botanical Garden. 

 Much western material in U. S. National 

 Museum. 



Leguminosites wickliffensis Berry, n. sp. 

 I'lato LI. fisrurp s. 



fhxcrlption. — Small legume, ovate in general 

 outlin(-, compre'ssed but somewhat full and 

 rounded on the margin opposite tho keel, 

 apparently indeliiscent. Length about 2 centi- 

 meters. Maximum width, about halfway be- 

 tween the ends, about 7 millimeters. Proxi- 

 mail the pod tapers to a stout peduncle. Distad 

 it is narrowed and obtusely pointed. The 

 keeled and opposite margins are about equally 

 curved, giving the pod an approximately 

 equilateral fonu. Tlie pod is, however, angled 

 along the well-marked keel and rounded along 

 the opposite side. The texture appears to have 

 been coriaceous, ])ut this may be partly due to 

 th(> lignified nature of the remains. The surface 

 is nearly smooth but lias slight transverse 

 ridges. Close-set tliin transverse veins, almost 

 com]iletely immersed in the substance, are 

 faintly discernible. The seeds appear to have 

 been several in number, small and compressed. 



Tiiis form was collected from the lower 

 lignite l)ed in the railroad cut just south of 

 Wickliffe, for wliich locality it is named. It is 

 entirely distinct from the other pods which 

 have been discovered in the lower Tertiary, and 

 though it may very likely represent the pod of 

 one of the numerous species of Leguminosje 

 that have been described from tlie Wilcox on 

 the basis of their leaflets, there is no clue to 

 this relationship, and the remains are of neces- 

 sity given a distinct specific name. With 

 regard to their exact botanic affinity they offer 

 no decisive characters for generic diagnosis and 

 are therefore referred to the form genus Legu- 

 minosites. The texture is similar to that of 

 our common Ro})inia, and the size and outline 

 suggest numerous existing species of Cassia as 

 well as certain other genera of the Ctesal- 

 pinlace;r and some genera of the Papilionaceie. 

 My impression is that they appertain to the 

 first of these families, but this is incapable of 

 verification. Ahnost iik^ntical remains from 

 the Oligocene of soutliern France are described 

 by Saporta ' as Ccrc.ls amelix. 



Occurrence. — Lagrange formation, lower lig- 

 nite bed (of Wilcox age), in a cut on the Illinois 



'Saporta, G. de, iltudes sur la vi'Rfitation du .sud-est de la Prance i 

 r^poque tertiaire, vol. :i, p. 117, ])1. U, fig. 12, 1X07. 



