328 CUPEESSINEAE [CH. 





American cone may, however, be a vegetative bud, and nothing is 

 known as to its seed-bearing appendages. Yezostrobus has not been 

 proved to have any connexion with the foliage-shoots of Brachy- 

 phyllum. Disregarding the two cones, there can be no doubt as to the 

 very close similarity between the American and Japanese shoots. 



TAXODITES. Unger. 



This generic name, adopted by Endlicher 1 from Unger, i 

 employed for fossil species believed to be nearly related to the 

 recent genera Taxodium and Glyptostrobus. Reference is made in 

 the chapter on Coniferous woods to supposed examples of these 

 genera. The separation of the two recent Conifers is based on 

 features which cannot be applied to fossil impressions and even in 

 the case of the existing types Beissner 2 , following Bentham and 

 Hooker, does not accept the Far Eastern species referred by 

 Endlicher to Glyptostrobus as representatives of a distinct genus, 

 but includes them in Taxodium. Heer describes some fragments 

 of shoots from the Lower Cretaceous of Greenland as Glyptostrobus 

 groenlandicus 3 , but these are of little or no value as trustworthy 

 records. Similarly his species G. intermedius from the Pa toot beds 4 

 founded on dimorphic, sterile, shoots affords no substantial evi 

 dence of affinity to Taxodium or Glyptostrobus. 



Taxodites europaeus Brongniart. 



This species was first described by Brongniart 5 from Tertiary 

 beds in Greece. The branches bear leaves varying in size and form 

 some being appressed and triangular while others are more elongate 

 and freer from the axis: the oval or globular cones, with a maximum 

 diameter of 15 mm., consist of 18 20 scales agreeing in their rounded 

 crenulate edges and radially grooved surface with those of Glypto- 

 strobus. Brongniart states that this species occurs also in Germany, 

 Bohemia, and at Oeningen. Heer 6 figures good examples of vege- 

 tative shoots and cones as Glyptostrobus europaeus from Oeningen ; 

 the scale-leaves are decurrent and the oval cones have semi- 

 circular scales with 6 8 grooves (fig. 759). This is described as 

 one of the commonest fossils in the Swiss deposits and, as Heer 



1 Endlicher (47) p. 278. 2 Beissner (91) p. 148. 



3 Heer (75) ii. Pis. xvi., xx., xxn. 4 Ibid. (75) ii. PL LII. 



5 Brongniart (33). 6 Heer (56) A. Pis. xix., xx. 



; 4 



n 



