EBEXALES. 211 



Order EBENALES. 



Family EBENACE^. 



Genus DIOSPYROS Linne. 



(Sp. PI., 1/53, P- 1057.) 



DisoPYRos pRiM^VA Hccr. 



Diospyros primceva Heer, Phyll. Cret. d. Nebr., 19, pi. i, f. 6, 1, 

 1866; Fl. Foss. Arct., vol. 6, ab. 2:80, pi. 18, f. 11, 

 1882; Ibid., vol. 7:31, pi. 61, f. 5a, b, c, 1883. 



Lesq., Fl. Dakota Group, 109, pi. 20, f. i-^, 1892. 



Smith, Geol. Coastal Plain in Ala., 348, 1894. 



Newb., Fl. Amboy Clays, 124, pi. jo, /. i-^, 1896. 



Knowlton, 21st Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Surv., pt. 7:317, pi- 

 S9, f. 3, 1901. 



Berry, Bull. Torrey Club, vol. 32:46, pi. 2, 1905; Ibid., vol. 

 34:204, 1907. 



Hollick, Mon. U. S. Geol. Surv., vol. 50:103, pi. 40, f. 2, 

 II, 1907. 



Description. — "D. foliis oblongo-ovalibus, integerrimis, apice 

 obtusiusculis, nervis secundariis serpentinis, ramosis, campto- 

 dromis." Heer, 1866. 



Leaves oblong-ovate in outline, variable according to age, 

 ranging from 3 cm. to 15 cm. in length, by 1.3 cm. to 5 cm. in 

 greatest breadth, which is in the middle part. Apex subacute or 

 obtuse. Base cuneate. Margins entire. Petioles rather long 

 and very stout. Midrib also stout. Secondaries branching from 

 the midrib at usually acute angles, subopposite or alternate, par- 

 allel, camptodrome. Tertiaries forming polygonal areoles, 

 whose relative prominence is one of the features of this species. 



This species, which is quite suggestive of the modern Diospyros 

 virginiana Linne, was described by Heer from the Dakota Group 

 of Nebraska nearly half a century ago. It has proved to be a 

 most wide-ranging form, having been identified at both the Atane 



