3-28 



LOWER EOCEXE FLORAS OF SOUTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 



Magnolia lauri/olia. Lesquereux (in purl). U. S. Xat. 



Mus. Proc., vol. 11. p. 25, 18SS. 

 Aralia, fragment. Lesquereux, idem, \>. 25, 1888. 

 (?) Aralia sp. Knowlfon, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, 



p. 81, 1902. 



Description. — The matcriiils on which the 

 origmal description of this s])ecies was based 

 came from strata since Referred to the Denver 

 formation in CoUirado and the Fort Union for- 

 mation in Montana. From the first they were 

 more or k>ss confused with simihxr h^rgc lobate 

 leaves showing more or less toothed margins 

 and more or l(>ss craspedodrome v(>nation, of a 

 tyi^e usually regar(Uxl as platanoid. There can 

 be but little question that this species is not the 

 same as Platanus nohilis. Wliether or not the 

 forms are related to the Ai'aliacea3 can not be 

 settled at present. They may represent genera 

 of Platanales, which order seems reaUy to be 

 closeh' related to the Urticales rather than to 

 the Resales, or they may be referable to the 

 order Malvales. I have described a form rather 

 similar to Aralia notata from the Midway (?) 

 formation of Earle, Tex., which I have referred 

 to the genus Pourouma. 



Aralia notata is at present known from onlj^ 

 a few localities in the Wilcox, where it is but 

 sparingly represented. The materials repre- 

 sent a leaf about 22 centimeters in length b}' 

 about the same width from tip to tip of the 

 lateral lo1)es. The leaves are ]ialmately tri- 

 vehicd and trUobate, subcoriaceous in texture, 

 the margms strictly entire; stout primaries are 

 prominent on the lower surface of tlic Ic.-if ; the 

 numerous rather close set, weU-deliued sub- 

 parallel secondaries are characteristically camp- 

 todrome close to the margins. 



This is an abundant Denver and Fort Union 

 species, and the Wilcox material is identical 

 with that fi-om the Rocky Mountain region, 

 except tliat the lobes are slightly more slender 

 but not more so than in some of the western 

 specimens. Two specimens were collected 

 from a locality near Manslield, La., by L. C. 

 Johnson and submitted to Lesquereux. One 

 of these (U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 24.31, Losque- 

 reux's No. 806) was identified as "Aralia, frag- 

 ment." The other (U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 2516, 

 Lesquereux's No. 804) was mistakenly re- 

 ferred to Magnolia launfolia. 



Occurrence. — Wilcox group, Ilardys Mill, near 

 GamcsviUe, GreiMie County, Ark. (collected by 

 John C. Branner), and McLecs, 2 miles north 



of Mansfield, De Soto Parish, La. (collected by 

 L. C. Johnson). 



Collections. — U. S. National Museum. 



Aralia acerifolia Lesquereux. 



Aralia acerifolia. Lesquereux, The Cretaceous and Terti- 

 ary floras, pp. 2;!2, 205, pi. 49, fis. 5; pi. 45b. fis. 1, 

 18S3. 



Description. — Lesquereux's description, ]Mib- 

 lished in 1883, is as follows: 



Leaves small, palmalely tliree-lobed, broadly rounded 

 at base; lobes oblouc. eidarged in the middle, gradually 

 narrowed to the obtuse sinuses, contracted above and lan- 

 ceolate to a lilunt point, entire; primary nerves compara- 

 tively strong; lower secondary nerves at right angles, the 

 upper very open iind curved in jiassing toward the borders, 

 camptodrome. 



A single fragmentary specimen of wliat is 

 ahnost certainly this species was collected at 

 Grenada. It is identical in size, caliber, and 

 character of th(^ venaticm and has the same 

 broadly rounded base, basilar primaries, and a 

 margmal secondary on each side from the base 

 of the lateral primaries. 



This species was described by Lesquereux 

 from the Fort Union foi'mation of Dakota, and 

 in a supplementary part of the same volume he 

 records it from the Chalk Bluffs of California, 

 which are of Miocene age according to Knowl- 

 ton. There are, however, certaui differences 

 between the forms from California and Dakota, 

 and they may not be identical. The name 

 does not appear in Eaiowlton's recently pub- 

 lished revision ' of the flora of the auriferous 

 gravels of California, so that it is not consid- 

 ered a member of that flora at the present 

 tune. The 8]K>cimen from Mississippi, how- 

 ever, is identical with the tyi^e of the species 

 from Dakota. 



Occurrence. — Grenada formation, Grenada, 

 Grenada County, Miss, (collected by E. N. 

 Lowe and E. W. Berry). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



Aralia jorgenseni Heer (?). 



Aralia Jorgenseni. IToer, Flora fossilLs arctica, vol. 7, 

 p. 110, pi. 101, fig. 1, 188;5. 



Description. — Leaves palmately trilobate, 

 divided almost to the l)as(> liy deep narrow 

 sinuses. Tips acute. Base cuneate, decur- 

 rent. Margins entire. Lobes elongate-lanceo- 



' Iviiowlton, F. H., in Lindgren, Waldemar, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

 Paper 73, pp. 57-64, 1911. 



