i84 THE RARITAN FLORA. 



Hedera primordiaeis Saporta. 



Hedcra prinwrdialis Sap., Le Monde des PI., 200, /. 2g, i, 2, 



1879. 

 Velen., Fl. Bohm Kreidef. Theil i : 19 />/. 8, f. y ; pi. q, f. 



4, 5; pi. 10, f. s, 4, 1882. 

 Heer, Fl. Foss. Arct., vol. 6, ab. 2 : 82, pi. ij, f. p, 10; pi. 



24, f. 6, ya; pi. 28, f. 13, 14, 1882. 

 Newb., Fl. Amboy Clays, 113, /'/. ig, f. i, p; pi. ?/, /. i-y, 



1896. 

 Berry, Bull. Torrey Club, vol. 34: 201, pi. 16, 1907. 



Description. — Leaves elliptical, reniform, or cordate in outline, 

 very variable in size and shape. Length 3 cm. to 12 cm., breadth 

 3.2 cm; to 12 cm., usually broader than long. Apex rounded or 

 obtusely pointed, sometimes slightly emarginate. Margin some- 

 what irregular but entire. Base varying from truncate to deeply 

 cordate. Petiole long and stout, usually not preserved. Vena- 

 tion palmate from top of the petiole. Primaries varying in num- 

 ber from 3 toi 7, usually 5 to 7, of which the midrib is the 

 stoutest, especially in the smaller leaves. The lowest pair of 

 primaries, which are approximately parallel with the basal mar- 

 gins of the leaf, are smaller in size than the others, and should, 

 perhaps, be regarded as secondaries. If this is done the pri- 

 maries are normally 5 in number, curved and camptodrome. 



This species was figured by Saporta in 1879 ^^oi^ the Ceno- 

 manian of Bohemia and described three years later by Velenov- 

 sky from the same horizon. Heer identifies rather fragmen- 

 tary remains from the Atane beds of Greenland with this species, 

 which is also abundant in the Woodbridge Raritan and in the 

 Bladen formation of North Carolina. It varies greatly in size 

 and appearance, some of the smaller specimens from^ abroad sug- 

 gesting the genus Ccrcis, while the smaller Raritan leaves sug- 

 gest somewhat the genus Ficiis. Of these variable specimens we 

 are disposed to consider as typical Velenovsky's PI. X, fig. 4, and 

 Saporta's fig. 2, as well as various Woodbridge specimens, which 

 are, however, mostly incomplete. 



This is a remarkably widespread species and better character- 

 ized where it do€S occur than is usuallv the case in such cosmo- 



