300 



LOWEH KOCEXE FLOKAS OF SOUTUEASTEHN XORTII AMElilCA. 



It is difficult to appreciate the difTcrcncos 

 that have led European students to separate 

 Cinnamomum huchii and Cinnamomum speda- 

 bile. Certainly some of the specimens appear 

 to intergrade. I have identified Oinnamoniiim 

 spectahile from tiie Claihorne group in Arkan- 

 sas and woidd be inehned to consider the form 

 from Coushatta as referable to this species on 

 the grounds of size, texture, and variabihty of 

 the tip. As it has been identified as Cinna- 

 momum bucMi there is hardly sufficient war- 

 rant for changing the name, especially in view 

 of the probability that the two species may not 

 really be distinct. 



Occurrence. — Wilcox group, one-fourth of a, 

 mile above Coushatta, Red River Parish, La. 

 (collected by G. D. Harris). 



Collection. — New York Botanical (iardcn. 



Genus PER.SEA Giirtner fils. 



Persea wilcoxiaxa Berry, n. sp. 



Plate LXXXVI, figure 3. 



Description. — Leaves elliptical in general out- 

 line. Length about 12 to 13 centimeters. 

 Maximum ^vidth, which is about midway be- 

 tween the apex and the base, about 6 cen- 

 timeters. Apex and base short and broad, 

 about equally pointed. Margins full, regidarly 

 rounded and entire, the upper and lower halves 

 of the leaves being counterparts as regards their 

 outline. Texture subcoriaceous. Midrib stout 

 and straight. Secondaries thin but distinct; 

 about eight chiefly subopposite, regularly 

 spaced, and approximately parallel pairs di- 

 verge from the midrib at angles of 45° or more 

 and curve upward, the curve increasing distad 

 as they bend approximately parallel with the 

 margins to form camptodrome arches. Ter- 

 tiaries thin but distinct, largely percurrent, 

 the cross veinlcts forming large quadrangular 

 or polygonal meshes. 



This species is not liable to be confused with 

 anj- other member of the Wilcox flora, although 

 it is not unlike a species of Persea from the 

 overlying Claiborne group in Mississippi. 

 Among recent forms it resembles a number of 

 species of the American tropics and subtropics. 

 The genus has been segregated in difl'erent 

 ways since its characterization by Gartner in 

 1805. Engler and Prantl, in the Naturliclien 

 Pflanzenfamilien, refer 10 species of the south- 

 eastern Asiatic region to Persea, but Sargent 



states tliat with the exception of the single 

 form endemic in the Canary Islands all its 50 

 species are American, ranging from the soutliern 

 United States, where 2 species extend nortli- 

 ward as far as Virginia in the coastal region, to 

 Brazil and Chile, tiie great majority of the fdinis 

 being tropical. 



Occurrence. — Wilcox group, Frierson Mill, 

 De Soto Parish, La. 



Collection. — LT. S. National Museum (No. 145). 



Persea loxgipetiolatum (HoUick) Berry. 

 Plate LXXXVI, figures 1 and 2. 



Persea speciosa Hear. Hollick, in Harris, G. Ii., and 

 Veatch, A. C, A preliminary report on the geology 

 of Louisiana, p. 284, pi. 41, fig. 5, 1899. 



Tiixj/lon longipetiolatum. Hollick, idem, p. 282, pi. 48, 

 1899. 



Description.. — Leaves rather large, apparently 

 somewhat inequilateral and falcate, ovate-lan- 

 ceolate in general outline. Apex sharply ]iointed 

 but not extended. Base sharply pointed and 

 slightly decurrent or else bluntly pointed. 

 Lenglli from 11 to 15 centimeters. Maximum 

 width, in the middle part of the leaf, ranges 

 from 4.-3 to 6.2 centimeters. Margins entire. 

 Texture coriaceous. Petioles long and very 

 stout, curved, tumid proximad, ranging in 

 length from 4.5 to 6.5 centimeters. Midrib 

 stout, curved, and prominent. Secondaries 

 stout, nine or ten subopposite to alternate 

 pairs, diverging from the midrib at angles of 

 about 45° or slightly more but slightly curved 

 upward until they reach the marginal region, 

 camptoch'ome. Tertiaries obsolete. 



This fine large species exhibits some varia- 

 tion, as shown by the forms identified by Hol- 

 lick as Persea and Toxylon. This difference is 

 mainly one of size and consequent petiolar 

 length. Neither is at all close to the normal 

 forms of Persea speciosa Heer but is somewhat 

 similar to a deformed leaf of that species fig- 

 ured by Heer ' from the upper Miocene of 

 Oeningen, Baden (Tortonian), a geologic hori- 

 zon as widely removed as the localities are 

 geogra])liically. I fail to see any basis for the 

 reference of this species to the monotypic exist- 

 ing genus Toxylon, which has relatively wider, 

 more equilateral and ellij^tical leaves whose 

 truncate base is commonly so full that the basal 

 margin is fluted or even cordate. The apex of 

 Toxylon is more or less produced as a slender 



1 Heer, Oswald, Flora tertiaria Helvetia;, vol. 2, pi. 100, fig. 18, 1S56. 



