t 



1902] NOTES ON SASSAFRAS 4 37 



also occurs in the sandstone at Belvidere, Kansas. The primaries 

 are sub-basal, and the secondaries are straighter than in the 

 modern Sassafras. The texture of these leaves differs widely, 

 and the basal midrib is very wide. Some specimens show a 

 tendency to become dentate. Hollick'^ compares his Cissites 

 platanoidea with S. obtiisum Lesq. 



Sassafras Mudgei Lesq. — According to Newberry, this is 

 merely a variety of his S. cretaceum, but we fail to see any ground 

 for this association except that they resemble somewhat the 

 narrower lobed leaves ascribed to that species. They are some- 

 what intermediate between these forms and the more typical 

 S. acutilobitm^ but are much more like the modern leaf than either, 

 Lesquereux's figs, j and 4. pL 14, Cret. FL, we consider to be 

 typical forms of this species. In the lengthening of the termi- 

 nal lobe they approach the modern Sassafras ; and we see no 

 venation characters which are unlike the modern leaf, for while 

 no marginal veins are discernible, they might have been present 



fig^ 



approach Sassafras in the relations of 



their secondary members in this region. If it be certain that 

 the fruit has been found in the same strata as Lesquereux 

 asserts/5 it only serves to substantiate the impression otherwise 

 obtained that they are true Sassafras leaves. The lateral mar- 

 gins of both the base and the lobes are straighter and more 

 I ascending than in the existing Sassafras, and the margin shows 



a tendency to become wavy. Lesquereux's other figure referred 

 to this species differs in the size and direction of the lateral 

 lobes, in the sub-basal primaries, and in the acute tip; the vena- 

 tion also is somewhat dissimilar, the ascending margins bulge 

 outward, and the base is not decurrent on the petiole, as it is 

 most markedly in his figs. 3 and 4. It resembles somewhat the 

 forms which Newberry refers to 5. acutilobum, but we do not 

 consider it a Sassafras. Ward's fragmentary leaves from the 

 Black Hills are of doubtful identity. The more perfect speci- 

 men which he originally referred to Lindera vemista Lesq., 

 which it resembles in outline, is a smaller leaf than 5. Mtidgei, 

 with sub-basal primaries, considerable breadth of blade, and 



' '*Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 22: 226. 1895. 'S H. Dak. Group, p. 230. 



