ART. 22 TERTIARY FOSSIL PLANTS FROM ARGENTINA BERRY 21 



Order LAURALES 



Family MONIMIACEAE 



Genus PEUMUS Persoon 



PEUMUS CLARKI Berry 



Plate 2, Figure 10 



Peunius cldrki Berry, Johns Hopkins Studies in Geology, No. C, p. 204, pi. 5, 

 fig. 2, 1925. 



This species was described from the supposed Santa Cruz beds of 

 Mirhoja, Chubut Territory. The specimen from Santa Cruz terri- 

 tory is .similar to the type in every respect except that it is slightly 

 narrower, in consequence of which the sessile base is more acute. 



The genus is monotypic in the existing flora of Chile, ranging, as 

 an evergreen tree, from about latitude 30° to latitude 42°. The 

 present fossil occurrence carries its range much farther south and 

 extending it over nearly 7° of latitude in Argentina. In this con- 

 nection it is pos,sible that the leaf from the Tertiary of Seymour 

 Island, Antarctica, described by Dusen^^ as Phyllites species (2), 

 may represent a second fossil species of Peumus. 



Occurrence. — Bluff about II/2 miles south of Mata Amarilla, upper 

 Rio Chalia, Territory of Santa Cruz. 



H olotype.— C^t. No. 37869, U.S.N.M. 



Genus LAURELIA Jussieu 



LAURELIA AMARILLANA, new species 



Plate 5, Figure 3 



Leaf broadly lanceolate in outline, widest medianly and about 

 equally pointed at the apex and the base. Base narrowly cuneate 

 and decurrent. Margin entire for its basal third, above which it has 

 somewhat irregularly and widely spaced undulate-crenate teeth. 

 Texture coriaceous. Length about 6 centimeters. Maximum width 

 about 2.5 centimeters. Petiole stout, 7 to 8 millimeters in length. 

 Midvein stout, prominent on the under side of the leaf. Secondaries 

 about 5 alternate pairs, diverging from the midvein at acute angles, 

 thin, long ascending, inclined to be somewhat flexuous, camptodrome, 

 but sending branches into the marginal teeth. Areolation obsolete, 

 a few tertiaries seen, as shown in the illustration. 



This greatly resembles the existing Chilean Laurelm aromatica 

 Sprengel in all of its features. The genus contains three species in 



2iDus4n, P., Wlss. Ergeb. Schwed. Siidpolar-Exped., vol. 3, Lief. 3, p. 16, pi. 1, fig- 15, 

 1008. 



