242 BERRY— LOWER EOCENE FLORA OF [April 25, 



A large calyx is present in the Claiborne or Vicksburg of southwest- 

 ern Texas. 



There are about 24 Oligocene species, Diospyros being especially 

 common throughout southern Europe. There is an American spe- 

 cies of this age in the Apalachicola group of western Florida. The 

 luxuriant forests of the Miocene have furnished about twenty spe- 

 cies of Diospyros, the known distribution at this time includes Euro- 

 pean localities from Spain to Hungary and American records in 

 Oregon, California. Yellowstone Park and Colorado. There are 

 seven Pliocene species in southern Europe and in Java. 



The allied genus Royena Linne has furnished splendidly pre- 

 served fruits from the oasis Chargeh in Egypt ( Upper Cretaceous ) 

 as well as four Oligocene and two Miocene species in Europe. It 

 seems never to have been cosmopolitan like Diospyros, since it has 

 never been recognized in the western hemisphere. The fossil his- 

 tory of the genus Euclea Linne was evidently similar to that of Roy- 

 ena, i. e., it makes its appearance in the basal Oligocene of Europe 

 where it is represented throughout the Oligocene and Miocene, be- 

 coming confined to Africa in Plio-Pleistocene times. 



The genus Macreightia DC. has nine or ten existing species, one 

 occurring in tropical Africa and the balance being American. Mac- 

 reightia is represented by both leaves and flowers in fossil floras and 

 it has been a favorite receptacle for tripartite calices, not always 

 of assured botanical identity. The oldest form is one in the German 

 Oligocene and there are five or six species in the European Miocene. 

 It has not been definitely recognized in North America, although 

 some of the Wilcox material is not unlike some European material 

 referred to Macreightia. Felix has recognized wood of this family 

 {Ebenoxylon) in the Oligocene of the Island of Antigua. 



The order Gentianales (Contorts of Engler) includes six fami- 

 lies with between four and five thousand existing species, the largest 

 family being the Asclepiadaceae with upwards of two thousand spe- 

 cies. The families are complexly interrelated among themselves 

 and with the next two orders, about the only constant characters 

 being the opposite leave- and the generally twisted corolla in aestiva- 

 tion. The Asclepiadaceae, not found in the Wilcox, share- with the 



