3-2(3 



LOWER i;OCEXE FLORAS OF SOUTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 



decuiToiit. Length raufres from 6. to S centi- 

 meters. Maximnm width, in the middle ])art 

 of the leaf, ranges from l.S to 3 centimetei-s. 

 Margins entire but somewhat UTeguhir. Leaf 

 substance very thick and sm^'ace roughened. 

 Petiole stout and curved, mergmg msensil>ly 

 with the basal part of the lamma of the leaf, 

 about 1 centimeter to 1 ..5 centimeters in length, 

 thus a trifle longer than u\ the modern Coiio- 

 carpu.s erectus Linne. Midrib stout and cm'ved, 

 mostly immersed in the thick substance of the 

 leaf. Secondaries nearly obsolete m the leaf 

 substance, about five or sLk curved campto- 

 drome pairs. Tertiaries obsolete. 



This characteristic species in its limits of size, 

 somewhat hregular and generally falcate form, 

 its very coriaceous texture, and its obsolete 

 venation is almost exactly lilce the leaves of 

 the modern Conocarpus erectus Linne, which 

 inhabits both sandy and muddy tidal shores, 

 lagoons, and baj's, from the Antilles and the 

 Florida Keys to Central America and tropical 

 South America, as well as tropical western 

 Africa. It is a characteristic element of the 

 tropical strand flora, which is replaced m the 

 Orient by different species of Eugenia and 

 mangroves. The genus Conocarpus is mono- 

 tjqjic in the existing flora. A smgle fossil 

 species has been recently described by me from 

 the Claiborne group of Georgia,' and Menzol - 

 has described fi-uits from the Aquitanian of 

 Rhenish Prussia. The two extremes of size 

 have been figured; the ornate radial groups of 

 marking on the larger leaf are casts of gypsum 

 crystals, probably mdicating the lagoon-like 

 character of the basin of deposition. 



Occurrence. — Lagrange fonnation (in beds of 

 Wilcox age), Puryear, Henry Comity, Tenn. 

 (coUocted ])y E. W. Beny). Wilcox group, 2 

 mih^s south of Naborton, De Soto Parish, La. 

 (collected by O. B. Hopkins). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



Family HYDKOCAKYACEffl (TRAPACEffl). 



Genus TRAPA Linne. 



TuAPA wiLcoxENsis Berry, n. sp. 



Plate CI, figures 7-9. 



Description. — Fruit relatively small, kite- 

 shaped, one - celled, indehiscent, somewhat 



" Berry, E. W., U. S. Gcol. Survey Prof. Paper S4, p. H7, pi. 29, figs. 

 4-7, 1914. 



-Menjel.P., K.preuss.geol. Landesanstalt Jahrb., Bd.34,rheil l.Heft 

 1. p. 53, pf. .5, flRS. r7-21, 1913. 



coriaceous, anned with two more or less ex- 

 tended, laterally directed or ascending, not 

 recui-ved spiiu's. Width 1.3 to l.S centimetei-s. 

 Height 7 to 9 millimetei's. Expanded medi- 

 anly, broad and extended below, more or less 

 extended above. Spmes stout and conical. 

 Surface more or less tuberculate medianly. 



This small-fruited species is common at Pur- 

 year. It shows considerable variation ui outhne 

 and the extent to wliich the spines are de- 

 veloped. Though smaller than most fossil 

 species that have been described and much 

 smaller than the fruits of the tlu'ee existing 

 species, it is clearlj^ referable to the genus Trapa. 

 The genus, formerly referred to the family 

 Onagraccff, is made the type and only genus 

 of the familv Hyth-ocaryaceae (Trapacea>) by 

 Raimann.'* In the existing flora there are thi'ce 

 species, all of which are confined to the Old World, 

 though Trapa natans is naturalized in New Eng- 

 land and New York. Trapa natans Linne, which 

 has normaUy fom" horns, udiabits central and 

 southern Eiu-ope but formerly possessed a 

 much greater range; Trapa Mcornis Linne 

 grows in China and Japan, and Trapa his2>inosa 

 Roxburg in southern Asia and Africa. The 

 last two species each have two horns, as their 

 names indicate. The genus has an extended 

 geologic history. Rosettes supposed to repre- 

 sent the floating leaves (Trapa (?) microphiiUa 

 Lesquereux, Trapa (1) cuneata Eaiowlton) are 

 widespread m the Rocky Mountain province 

 in beds of late Upper Cretaceous to early 

 Eocene age. The oldest fruits are those de- 

 scribed above from beds of Wilcox age, and a 

 large-fruited bicornute species from the Eocene 

 of Canada and Alaska. In the Oligocene there 

 is a species in Saxony ( Trapa credneri Schenk) . 



No less than seven species have been de- 

 scribed from the Miocene; two of them occur 

 m Idaho (Payette formation), one in Japan, 

 and the remainder in Europe, where two forms 

 extend mto the Pliocene. 



The existing European Trapa natans has 

 been recorded from the preglacial deposits of 

 England and Saxony, from numiM'ons inter- 

 glacial and postglacial localities in Portugal, 

 Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Russia, 

 and Denmark (jVndersson mentions IS localities 

 hi West Prussia, 6 in Denmark, 17 in Sweden, 

 and 29 m Finland). The present species is not 

 especially close to any previously described. 



" Englor, .\., and Prantl, K., Die natUrlichen Pflanzenfamilion, 1893. 



