272 



LOWER EOCKNE FLOBAS OF SOUTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 



single seed iii each cell of ihe capsule. Its 

 describer compares it with the existhig Dodonxa 

 candollii Blum of New Caledonia, although it 

 is equall}' similar to the cosmopolitan Dodonsea 

 viscosa Limie. Laurent's species differs from 

 the Wilcox fruit in being longer than wide, not 

 eniargniale at the base, and less deeply emar- 

 ginate at the apex. 



Occurrence. — Lagrange formation (in beds 

 of Wilcox age), Puryear, Henry County, Temi. 

 (collected by E. W.Berry). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



Genus SAPINDUS Linne. 



Leaflets relatively large and wide. 2 centimeters or over 

 in maximum width: 

 Widest medianly, falcate: 



Apex and base equally pointed ... S. pseudaffinis. 

 Apex blunt and base pointed and decurrent. 



5. coushatta. 



Base broad and rounded .S. ox/ordensn. 



Widest below the middle: 



Equilateral, tip gradually narrowed and rounded 



iS. hentonensis. 

 Inequilateral, acuminate, petiolulate. 



S. knowltoni. 

 Leaflets small and narrow, more or less falcate: 



Leaflets? S. mississippiensu. 



Leaflets petiolulate: 



Linear-lanceolate, elongate, long petiolulate. 



S. UncarifoUus. 

 Ovate-lanceolate: 



Petiolules over 4 millimeters, base subequi- 

 lateral. apex extended and straight sided . 



S./ormosus. 

 Petiolules not over .3 millimeters, base inequi- 

 lateral, ape.x pointed, margins incurved. 

 S. eoligniticm. 



Sapindus psexidaffinis Berry, n. sp. 

 Plate LXVII, figure G. 



Description. — Leaflets large, ovat(\ falcate in 

 outline, inequilateral, the apex abruj)tly pointed 

 and the base similarly pointed. Length about 

 ().■') centimeter. Maximum width about 3. .3 

 centimeters, midway between the apex and 

 tlie base. Margins entire, full and evenly 

 roimded and not becoming incurved at either 

 the ape.x or the base, the regular curvature of 

 the margins continuing until they join as an 

 abrupt point. Petiolule short or wanting. 

 Midrib very stout and curved. Secondaries 

 much thinner but rather stout, 12 to 14 sub- 

 opposite to alternate pairs, brandling from tlie 

 midrib at anglesof more than 4.")° and curvingup- 

 ward, subparallel, camj)tu(h-()me. Tertiary sys- 

 tem thin l)iit very distinct, consisting of mostly 



percurrent nervilles connected by intenncdiate 

 veinlets resulting in a mostly cjuadrangular 

 areolation. Leaf sul)stance apparenth' thin but 

 coriaceous. 



This large, handsome species is obviously ref- 

 erable to Sapindus and may be closely matched 

 by a number of existing tropical species, for ex- 

 ample Sapindus insequalis De CandoUe of trop- 

 ical ^Vmerica or Sapindus barak De Candolle and 

 Sapindus turczaninowii Vidol of the East In- 

 dies, or the East Indian species figured by 

 Ettingshausen.' Among fossil species it resem- 

 bles Sapindus grandifoliolus Ward,- from Mon- 

 tana, the principal difference, in addition to the 

 more prominent areolation of the Wilcox spe- 

 cies, being the attenuated tip of the Fort Union 

 species. Another similar Fort Union species is 

 the very abundant Sajnndus ajfinis Newberry, 

 especially the larger forms like those figured by 

 Knowlton ^ from Yellowstone Park. These 

 specimens are nearly if not quite as large as 

 Sapindus pseudajjinis and have the same form 

 and secondary venation. The tertiary areola- 

 tion is obsolete, however. Knowlton, who has 

 studied hundreds of specimens of Sapindus 

 ajfinis, agrees with me that the Wilcox form is 

 distinct, but is closely related to this Fort Union 

 species. It also greatly resembles a leaf from the 

 French Tertiary (Sannoisian) which is described 

 by Saporta^ as Magnolia {2IicJtelia?) proxima. 

 Many leaflets of Sapindus saponaria Linne of 

 the American tropical strand flora match this 

 fossd species. 



Sapmdus comprises more than 40 existing 

 species (Radlkofer ^ in his revision of the Sapin- 

 dacese inchuh's only about 10 species in Sapin- 

 dus), which are widely distributed throughout 

 the Tropics of both hemispheres, but are most 

 abundant in the Asiatic region. Several spe- 

 cies like Sapindus marginatus WiUdenow of our 

 Southern States extend considerable distances 

 into the Temperate Zone. The fossil species are 

 numerous from the middle Cretaceous onward, 

 and the genus is prominently represented in the 

 lower Eocene floras of the Rocky Mountain 

 area. 



• Ettiiigshausen, C. von, Beitriige zur Kenntniss der fossilen Flora 

 von Solzka, pi. G, fig. 9, 1S58, 



2 Ward, 1j. F., U. S. Ccol. Survey liull. 37, p. 07, pi. .TO, figs. .V,?; pi. 

 31, figs. 1,2,1887. 



3 Knowlton, F. n., U. .S. Geol. Survey Mon.32, p. 73C, pi. 102, Qgs. 

 1-3, 1899. 



1 Saporta, G. de, Demiftres adjonctions Ji la flore fossile d'ALx^n- 

 Provencc, pt. 2, p. SO. pi. II, fig. 1, 1889. 



' Engler, A., and I'rantl, K., Die aatiirliehen Pflanzenfamilien, 1887- 

 1901. 



