GENTIANALES. 



341 



Fr-^jcinus .iohnstrttpi Ileor ( ?V 



Plate CI, figure (i. 



Fraxinus Johmtnt/n. Heer, Flora fossilis antica, vol. 7, 

 p. U:!, pi. so, figs. 1,2, 18S3. 

 Hollick, in Harris, G. D., and Veatch, A. C, .V prc- 

 liininar>' report on the geology- of Louisiana, ji. 287. 

 pi. 44. fig. 1, 1899. 

 Description. — Hoer's description, piihiishcd 

 in 1883, is as follows: 



Fr. folioli(< ovato-elliptieis, basi valde iiuniualibus, 

 margino dentatis, iiervis sct-undariis aiigulo i>eraeute 

 egredientibus, valde caniptodromis. 



Tliis species was described by Uecr I'l-om the 

 locality in western Greenland at Atane Kerd- 

 lulv, which he re<>;arded- as part of his Ai'ctic 

 Miocene but which is ahnost certainly of 

 Eocene age. In 1890 HoUick identified it with 

 a query from Louisiana. His material is 

 scant}- but more complete than that from 

 Greenland. It shows a petiolulate inequi- 

 lateral leaflet about 11 centimeters in length by 

 alxHit 4 centimeters m maximum width, the 

 midrib curved, and a petiolule about 9 mil- 

 Umeters in length. A fragmentary specimen 

 is also contained in the collections from 

 Tennessee, and it is not rare at several other 

 localities. 



I retain the queiy after this species, since no 

 complete new material has been collected, 

 although in so far as comparisons are possible 

 that from Louisiana is practically identical 

 with the Greenland types and may represent 

 the foliage of the tree represented by samaras 

 in the clays of Wilcox age in Temiessee. The 

 flora from Greenland is almost certainly some- 

 what younger than the Wilcox, and the two 

 have very few characters in common, difl'eruig 

 markedly in this respect from the conditions 

 sho\\m in comparisons between the Upper 

 Cretaceous floras of western Greenland and the 

 Atlantic Coastal Plam. For these reasons the 

 occurrence of Fraxinus johnstrupi is of especial 

 hitcrest. 



Occurrence. — Wilcox group, one-fourth of a 

 mile above Coushatta, Red River Parish, La. 

 (collected by G. D. Harris). Grenada forma- 

 tion, Grenada, Grenada Countv, Miss, (col- 

 lected by E. N. Lowe and E. W. Berry). 

 Lagrange formation (in beds of Wilcox age), 

 Purvear, Henry County, Tenii. (collected by 

 E. W. Bern). 



Collections. — U. S. Natioiiul Museum ; New 

 York Botanical Garden. 



Genus O.SMANTHUS Loureiro. 



Os.MANTurs PEDA'ius (Lcsquereux) Beriy. 

 Plate CIV, figure 1. 



Olai amrriruna. Ililgard, Report on the geology and agri- 

 culture of Missis.sippi, pp. 108, 113, 18C0. 



Laiini.t j/edaliis. Lesquereux, Am. Philos. Soe. Tiuns,, 

 vol. 13, p. 418, pi. 19, fig. 1, 18G9. 



Description. — Lesquereux's description, pub- 

 lished iu 1S()9, is as follows: 



L. foliis eoriaeois, olilanceolatis, in pctiolum longe 

 att(>nuatis integerriniis: nervo primario latiore. piano, 

 ner\is secundariis tenuibus, sub angulo aeuto 30° egre- 

 dientibus, caniptodromis. areolatioiie ultima punctil'orini. 



Lesquereux states that his description and 

 figure of this species were made from a single 

 broken specimen, which I have been imable to 

 find in the remains of the Hilgard collection at 

 the State LTniversity of Mississippi. I liave, 

 however, collected typical specunens from the 

 clays of Henry Coimty, Tenn., and Lesque- 

 reux's description quoted aljove may be ampli- 

 fied as follows: Leaves oblanceolate in outline, 

 the tip bluntly pointed and the base long and 

 gradually narrowed, deciu-rent. Length about 

 13 centimeters. Maximum width, in the upper 

 half of the leaf, about 2.75 centimeters. Mar- 

 gins entire. Texture coriaceous. Petiole 

 short and stout, somewhat tumid. Midrib 

 stout, prominent on the lower surface of the 

 leaf. Secondaries thin and immersed in the 

 leaf substance, subopposite to alternate, diverg- 

 ing from the midrib at angles of about 50°, 

 curving upward, camptodrome. Tertiaries 

 thin, appro.ximatel}^ straight, transverse. 



Except that the tertiaries are almost obso- 

 lete in the modern form, Osmanfhus pedatus is 

 indistmguishable from Osiruinthus americanus 

 Bentham and Hooker, which is found in wet 

 situations in the coastal region of our Southern 

 States from southern North Carolina to eastern 

 Louisiana. Both forms show the same oblance- 

 olate outline, bluntly pointed apex, long ta- 

 pering base, prominent midrib, and immersed 

 secondaries. A second species, Osmanihus 

 floridonii Chapman, found in the hammocks of 

 peninsular Florida, })ears leaves that are prac- 

 tically identical with the preceding. 1 have 

 figur(>d a nature print of a leaf of Osiruinthus 

 (iincriconus for comparison with the Wilcox 

 species. 



Tlie g(>nus Osmanthus embraces about 10 

 existing species of eastern and southern Asia, 

 Poljmesia, and southeastern North America. 



