38 THE RARITAN FLORA. 



Turning to the Dicotyledonae, we find the old group Amenti- 

 feras, which by some authors are thought to be reduced higher 

 plants and by others considered primitive and as partially bridg- 

 ing the gap between the Angiospermae and the order Gnetalcs 

 of the Gyinnospermse, has i8 species, or 14%, in the Raritan. 

 These include 8 species of Myricales, i of Juglandales, 8 of 

 Salicales and i of Fagales. This is a considerable less show- 

 ing than is made by this type in the flora of the Dakota Group, 

 where there are 10 species of Myricales, 6 of Juglandales, 24 of 

 Salicales and 44 of Fagales. 



The order UrticaJes has a species of Planera and 4 species 

 of Ficus in the Raritan, the latter including both the lanceolate 

 pinnately-veined forms and those with a palmate venation. This 

 order is much more fully represented in immediately succeeding 

 floras, the Dakota Group having over a score of species, and the 

 Senonian, both at home and abroad, a great variety. 



The order Proteales, which in modern floras is confined to 

 the southern hemisphere, has but 2 Raritan species, while there 

 are 6 in the Dakota Group. Later geologic time shows a con- 

 siderable development of this order, especially in the Ter- 

 tiary of Europe. 



The order Ranales, recently given a prominent place in phy- 

 logenetic speculations by English authors, who, on purely theo- 

 retical grounds, would connect the Angiospermae through this 

 medium with the Mesozoic Cycadophyta, has 24 species in the' 

 Raritan, or 19% of its known flora. This is a much less number 

 than is present in the Dakota Group, from which 81 species are 

 recorded. In the Raritan there are 2 species of Dezvalqiiea, 

 9 or 10 of Magnolia, 2 of Liriodendron, 3 of Sassafras, and 2 

 species of Menispermites. At the present day this order is rep- 

 resented in the latitude of New Jersey by mostly herbaceous 

 forms of the family Ranunculaceae, the arborescent forms related 

 to those of the Raritan being largely warm-temperate or sub- 

 tropical species of wide distribution, strongly represented in 

 northern South America. 



The large modern order Rosales has 431 species in the area 

 covered by Britton and Brown's Illustrated Flora of the United 

 States, while in Small's Flora of the Southern United States 



