FLORA OF THE CHEYENNE SANDSTONE OF KANSAS. 



205 



atum Lesquereux, Sequoia condita Lesquereux, 

 Abietites ernesfmae Lesquei'eux, Sterculia mv- 

 cronata Lesquereux, and Sassafras mudgii 

 Lesquereux. Of these the first two were found 

 near Delphos, Kans. ; Sequoia condita, one of 

 the most ahundant forms in the Cheyenne 

 sandstone, was kno\v^l simply from "Kansas" 

 and miglit really have come originally from the 

 Cheyenne sandstone; Abietites ernestiuae was 

 from Docatiii-, Nebr. ; Sterculia mucronata was 

 from Ellsworth County, Kans.; and Sassafras 

 mudgii was recorded from Salina River, Kans., 

 and Evans cjuarry, S. Dak. According to 

 Stanton the outcrops of the Dakota sandstone 

 at Delphos, in Ellsworth County, and along 

 Salina River, in Kansas, and at Decatur, Nebr., 

 are in the upper part of the Dakota, the beds 

 at Decatur being within 300 feet of the top. 

 Hence the species common to these localities 

 tend to emphasize the transitional character 

 of the Cheyenne flora. 



Five of the remaining six species common to 

 the Dakota are of still more value in that they 

 have all been recorded from other regions 

 where the age is less a matter of doubt. The 

 sixth, Asplenium diclsoitiaiiuiii Heer, is of 

 slight value in this connection, as it is probably 

 a composite species. It has been recorded 

 from both older and younger formations, 

 namely, Tuscaloosa, Raritan, Patapsco, La- 

 kota, Kome, Atane, Kootenai, and the Upper 

 Cretaceous of Sakhalin Island. Gleichenia nor- 

 densJcioldi was described originally from mate- 

 rial collected in the Kome beds of Greenland 

 and identified by Lesquereux in specimens 

 from the Dakota at Fort Harker, Kans. I 

 have identified the Cheyenne sandstone speci- 

 mens as this species because they are identical 

 with those described under that name by Les- 

 quereux, but neither these nor Lesquereux's 

 specimens can be distinguished from another of 

 Heer"s nominal species of Gleiehenia, namely. 

 Gleichenia zippei, which has been recorded all 

 over the Northern Hemisphere at horizons 

 ranging from Lower Cretaceous to Senonian 

 and has been found in the Atlantic Coastal 

 Plain in the Raritan and Magothy formations. 

 Abietites longifolius ranges tlu-ough the Poto- 

 mac group of Maryland and Virginia and is 

 found in the Raritan formation in New Jersey 

 and in the Fuson formation of the Black Hills. 

 Sapindopsis inagnifoUa is a Patapsco species, 

 Sterculia towneri (Lesc^uereux) is found in the 



Magothy formation, and Araliopsoides cretacea 

 (Newberry) is found in the Raritan and Mag- 

 othy formations of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. 

 A prominent element in the Cheyenne 

 sandstone flora consists of the three nominally 

 distinct species of Sapindopsis^ which are 

 equally prominent in the Patapsco foimation 

 of Maryland and Virginia. One of these is also 

 probably present in the true (later) Dakota 

 flora, and another has been recorded from the 

 Fuson formation of tlie Black Hills, although 

 the latter is not entirely characteristic. This 

 considerable Patapsco element in the Cheyerme 

 flora is of considerable interest, for it includes, 

 in addition to the abundant remains of these 

 three species of Sapindopsis, a characteristic 

 Abietites {A. longifolius). These three forms 

 of Sapindopsis are distinguished chiefly by the 

 size of theu- leaflets and probably in both floras 

 represent slight variants of a single botanic 

 species. 



The Patapsco flora has been rather definitely 

 correlated with the Albian stage of Em-ope. '« 

 I do not regard the community of Sapindopsis 

 and Abietites in the Cheyenne and Patapsco as 

 indicating synchroneity, for the following 

 reasons. The Patapsco flora contains 41 

 species that persist into it from the older Lower 

 Cretaceous. Only one of these, the Abietites, 

 occurs in the Cheyenne, and it is also present 

 in the Atane beds of Greenland and the Raritan 

 formation of New Jersey. The Patapsco flora 

 numbers 83 species, and of this large number 

 only two have been found in the immediately 

 overlying Raritan formation. Neither of these 

 occurs in the Cheyenne. 



The Cheyenne entirely lacks the older 

 elements that serve to distinguish the Patapsco 

 from the Raritan and stamp its age as Albian. 

 For example, the following fern genera of the 

 Patapsco are not found in the Cheyenne: 

 Ruffordia, Acrostichopteris, Knowltonella, Clado- 

 phlebis, Dn/opteris, Onychiopsis, Sagenopteris, 

 Ttrnpsl-ga, Scleropteris, and TIdnnfeldia; the 

 following cycadophyte genera of the Patapsco 

 are not found in the Cheyenne: Ctenopteris, 

 Zamiupsis, Nilsonia. Zamites, Uichotozamites, 

 and Podozamites; and the following conifero- 

 phyte genera of the Patapsco are not found 

 in the Cheyenne: Nageiopsis, Brachyphyllum, 

 Araucarites, Pinu-s, Frenelopsis, Sphenolepis, 



"Berry, E. W., Maryland Geol. Survey, Lower Cretaceous, p. 172 

 1911. 



