1902] NOTES ON SASSAFRAS 447 



in outline, the chief difference being that the main lateral sinuses 

 are deeper in the modern leaf, thus giving the lobes somewhat 

 orbicular outlines. The position of the primaries is similar; the 

 branch from the primary to the extra lobes is similar; the sec- 

 ondaries are somewhat straighter in the ancient leaf. Although 

 Lesquereux says *'it is equally referable to Sassafras or to 

 Platanus/' we are disposed to consider the former as representing 

 its more natural disposition, not only because of its similarity 

 to the modern leaves just pointed out, but also in its narrowly 

 produced base, and especially in the first secondary running 

 direct to the sinus, as it seems to do in Lesquereux's figure ; 

 for although a small portion of this part of the leaf is missing, 

 it is so nearly complete on the one side as to leave no alterna- 

 tive ending for the secondary in question. 



Sassafras (?) primordiale Lesq. — This fragment from the 

 Dakota group is of doubtful value. Its only distinguishable char- 

 acters, namely the basal lobe with the narrowly extended ter- 

 minal lobe and the secondary in the region of the sinus widely 

 forked, certainly do not warrant its association with Sassafras. 

 Lesquereux notes its resemblance to 5. acutilobum and 5, 



Mtidgei. 



Sassafras cretaceum grossedentatum Lesq. — Lesquereux 

 says of this form that it ** differs in nothing from the normal 

 form except by its large size, with its borders deeply dentate. It 

 is evident that the sharply acute teeth constitute a variety indi- 

 cated already by the short teeth sometimes seen in the normal 

 forms of the species." In all the leaves referred to S. cretaceum, 

 however, the base is decurrent on the petiole as in the modern 

 Sassafras leaf. Furthermore, in all of Newberry's figures of the 

 species, while the margins are sometimes slightly toothed, the 

 secondaries remain camptodrome and do not enter the teeth, 

 thus differing from the leaf under consideration as well as from 

 Lesquereux's figures of S. cretaceum,^^ in which the secondaries 

 are craspedodrome ; the base, however, is decurrent as in New- 

 berry's figures and in the modern leaf. This form differs but 

 slightly from S. papillosum, and also bears considerable resem- 



3^Cret, FL,//. 11, figs, 1-2. 



