DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 10 i 



Sassafras (Araliopsis) bissectum Lesq.' 

 PI. XIY, Fig. 1. 



Cret. and Tert. FL, p. 57. 



Leaves coriaceous, very large, flabelliform, pahnately five-lobed, nar- 

 rowed by an inward curve and decun-ing to the petiole ; lobes obtuse, 

 deeply undulate or obtusely dentate ; primary nerves trifid, supra-basilar ; 

 the lateral forking near their base, the divisions branched on both sides; 

 secondaries curving along- the Ijorders or entering the teeth ; ner\'illes strong, 

 at right angles to the nerves, continuous, more generally simple, areolation 

 small, polygonal. 



These leaves are very large, the one figured measuring 22'^™ in length, 

 without the petiole, which is T"° long and 20*"" to 24*"° between the apices 

 of the lateral lobes. They have a great degree of affinity to those of 

 S. (^AraUo2)sis) mlrahUe Lesq., and also of PJataiius prinmra Lesq., difi"ering 

 fi'om both, however, by the subdivision of the lateral nerves, the five-lobate 

 form of the leaves, the obtuse teeth of the lobes, the nervation, etc. They 

 are like an intermediate link between those two genera, being more closely 

 related to Araliopsis than to Platanus, however. 



Habitat: A number of leaves of the same character but somewhat 

 variable in size have been obtained by Charles H. Sternberg, 3 and 7 miles 

 south of Fort Ilarker, Kansas, at a locality remarkable for their abundance. 

 No. 117, etc., of the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Cambridge, Massa- 

 chusetts. 



Sassafras (Araliopsis) cketaoeum Newb., var. geossedentatum Lesq. ii. var. 



PI. LI, Fig. 5. 



This leaf difi"ers in nothing from the normal form except by its large 

 size, Xvdth its borders deeply dentate. It is e^^dent that the sharply acute 

 teeth constitute a variety indicated already by the short teeth sometimes 

 seen in the normal form of the species and can not be separated on that 

 account. 



' Prof. Lesquereax wrote of thia species shortly before his death, as follows : " Sassafrfis (Araliopsis) 

 dissectmn Lesq., is clearly like AspidiophyUmn trilobatum Lesq., but positively differs by the lateral lobes 

 being eiitire, not lobate nor dent.atc, ami tlio coar.se (ilistinctly so) nervation ami areolation in the part 

 of the surface of the leaves, generally very large, is smooth; in Asphiiliopliyllum it is, per contra, 

 rugose, by the deeply marked areolation." — F. H. K. 



