FOSSIL FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE FLORISSANT SHALES 1 75 



TyphacecB (i species) 



A Typha is very common at Florissant, and is described and figured by Les- 

 quereux (Cret. and Tertiary Floras, p. 141, pi. XXIII) as T. laUssima Al. Br., 

 of Europe. It is admitted, however, that it does not exactly agree with the Euro- 

 pean plant, the "veinlets which separate the primary nerves" being twice as numer- 

 ous. It is preferable, I think, to distinguish the Florissant plant by another name, 

 and Typha lesquereuxi is proposed. Lesquereux cites Florissant and the Green 

 River beds of Wyoming (imder the name of "Randolph Coimty"); the former 

 should be considered the type locality. 



Naiadacece. (i or 2 species?) 



The objects called Najadopsis rugulosa Lx., Potamogeton (?) verticillatus Lx., 

 and P. geniculatus Al. Br. are of a problematical character. The last, not figured 

 from Florissant, seems to have the best standing. 



Gymnospermae (4 species) 

 Pinus florissanti Lx. 



From Fossil Stump Hill (Henderson and Ramaley) are excellent specimens 

 of the leaves, not massed together, but separately in bundles of three. These evi- 

 dently belong to Pinus hambachi Kirchner; but since they are exactly the leaves 

 which ought to belong to P. florissanti, a species allied to P. ponderosa, and known 

 only by the cone, I treat hambachi as a synonym. This, the one clearly-known 

 Florissant pine, is allied to the tree still growing in the same region. "P. palcB- 

 ostrobusif)" must be considered doubtful. 



Sequoia affinis Lx. 



This is the well-known Florissant species, to which the fossil stumps may doubt- 

 less be assigned. The specimens referred to S. langsdorfii, with doubt, are sup- 

 posed to be the same. Much of what has been called Sequoia appears to be 

 Glypiostrobus. 



Taxodium is listed by Kirchner, but apparently does not occur at Florissant 

 Podocarpus eocenica Ung. is doubtful in the extreme. 



Widdringtonia lingucefolia Lx., is common and well-known; what was for- 

 merly called Thuites callitrina Ung., becomes W. lingwBJolia gracilis Lx. The 

 reference of this plant to Widdringtonia seems unnecessary, as the material agrees 

 well with the American genus Sabina, and should I think be referred to as Sabina 

 Ungues jolia. The mode of branching suggests Sabina rather than Chamcscyparis. 

 Widdringtonia is an old-world genus. Glyptostrobus ungeri Heer ( ?) is also well- 

 known, and is especially interesting as representing a boreal genus, now surviving 

 in China, and most nearly represented in the modern American flora by Taxo- 

 dium. There is some question about the identity of the Florissant plant; Knowlton 

 refers it to G. europceus, of which he considers ungeri a variety. It ranges, hypo- 

 thetically, from the Fort Union beds to the Miocene. 



