340 



LOWER EOCENE FLORAS OK SOUTHEASTERN NORTH AJEERICA. 



of tlu^ s('coiulari(^s, of heirs porcurroiit, joiiuul by 

 ncrviJlcs in (lifTcrciit diroctions to form snuill, 

 isodiamotric, fmir or (ivo sidod meshes. 



Tliis six'cies is readily distinsjiiishable from 

 the associated Wilcox specie~s ^fimusops nw- 

 berifolia Berry hy its relatively shorter and 

 wider outline, more mimerous secondaries, and 

 conspicuonsly emarsj:inate a])ex. It is very 

 close and unquestionably ancestral to Mimu- 

 sops chiihonii'nsis Beny, a relatively shorter and 

 more robust form of the middle Eocenes 



.\mong the leaves from Mississippi referred 

 by Lesquercnix to Quercus ddoropliylla Ungor 

 is one that is clearly a leaf of the species now 

 under discussion, and this also seems to be the 

 affinity of the single associated leaf which Les- 

 quereux described as Phi/Hifes truncatus and 

 which lacks the tip, the chief diagnostic feature 

 of the present species: hence the name is queried 

 and is not taken up for the species as now de- 

 scribed from complete material. 



Occurrence. — Ackcrman formation, Hm-leys, 

 Benton County (formerly a part of Tippah 

 Covmty), Miss, (collected by E. W. Hilgard). 

 Lagrange formation (in beds of Wilcox age), 

 Puryear, Henry Count}', Tenn. (collected by 

 E. W. Berry). " " 



Collections. — U. S. National Museum. 



MiMUSOPS MissrssiPPiENSis Berry, n. sp. 

 Plate CVIII, figure L 



Description. — Leaves medium sized, elongate- 

 elliptical in general outline, the tip somewhat 

 narrowed and rounded and the base cuneate, 

 decurrcnt on the petiole. Length ranges from 

 8 to 8.5 centimeters. Maximum width, at or 

 below the middle, about 2.6 centimeters. 

 Margins entire, evenly rounded. Texture cori- 

 aceous. Petiole short and stout, alate. Mid- 

 rib stout, curved, prominent. Secondaries of 

 medium caliber, partly immersed; about nme 

 opposite to alternate pairs diverge from the 

 midrib at angles that average about 50°, 

 rather straight in their courses two-thirds of 

 the distance to the margin, where they bend 

 upward and are camptodromc. Tertiaries thin 

 but well marked, forming an opeix quadrangular 

 or pentagonal isodiametric areolation. 



This species is somewhat smaller than tlie 

 other AVilcox species of Mimusops and is more 

 tapering in both directions, approaching the 

 the form of Sideroxylon premastichodenxlron 

 Berrv in outline. The secondaries are less 



prominent tlian in Mimusops .neherifolia Berry 

 and Mimusops eo/igniiirus Berry, but th(> 

 areolation is practically identical for tlie three 

 species. 



Mimusops mi.'isissippiensis was confined to 

 the Grenada formation south of the Mississippi- 

 Tennessee l)ouudary and ajiparently was not 

 connuon. 



Occurrence. — Grenada formation, Grenada, 

 Grenada County. Miss, (collectefl by E. N. Lowe 

 and E. W. Berry). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



Order GENTIAN ALES. 



Family OLEACE^. 

 Genus FRAXINUS Linne. 



Fraxinus wilcoxiana Berry, ii. sp. 



Plate ri. figure 5. 



Description. — Samara oblanceolate in put- 

 line, slender, contracted gradually proxunad to 

 the pedmicle, which is relatively stout and 

 about 3 millimeters long. Total length about 



3 centimeters. Maximum width 6.5 milli- 

 meters at a pomt about halfway b(>tween the 

 apex and the base. Body large, flattened, 

 oblanceolate in outline, about 1.75 centimeters 

 long, or more than half the total length of the 

 samara, longituduially lined, maximum width 



4 millimeters, toward the distal end. Wing 

 coriaceous, the tip narrowly rounded, the 

 margins entire, decurrent on the body from 

 which the veins radiate. Calyx not persistent. 



This well-marked samara of an early Eocene 

 species of Fraxinus is well marked and distinct 

 from known Tertiary forms. Except for its 

 relative median %\Tidth it might almost pass for 

 the fruit of the common American red ash, 

 Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh, which, however, 

 has a persistent calyx. It resendjles a number 

 of other existing species of ash, but this resem- 

 blance can not be held to indicate a close filia- 

 tion with these forms. It is not uncommon in 

 the clays at Puryear but has not as yet been 

 corndated with the foliage of the tree which 

 liore it. It is quite possible that this foliage is 

 represented by the Wilcox species, l)ased on 

 leaves from Tennessee and Louisiana, which 

 is idwitified as Fraxinus johnstriipi lleer. 



Occurrence. — Lagi'ange formation (in beds of 

 Wilcox age), Puryear, Henry County, Tenn. 

 (collected by E. W. Berry). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



