212 THE FLORA OF THE DAKOTA GKOUP. 



GENERA AND SPECIES OF UNCERTAIN RELATION. 



ASPIDIOPHYLLUM DENTATUM Lesq. 



PL XXXIX, Fig. 1. 

 Gret. aud Tert. Fl., p. 88. 



Leaves large, palmately tlii-ee nerved from above the base ; five-lobate 

 by the division of the lateral lobes; lobes oblong, obtuse, and obtusely 

 dentate or deeply vindulate on the borders; primaries ratlier n;irro\v. The 

 leaf is constricted at base into a fanlike obtusely tive-tootlied shield, cover- 

 ing the top of the petiole. 



This species has been described from the specimen figured here. In 

 comparison with the leaves of A. trilobatum this one is somewhat smaller, 

 but a large leaf nevei-theless. From the forking of the primary lateral 

 nerves above the base it is evident that the leaf is five-lobate ; but as yet I 

 have not seen any specimens indicating the form of these lateral lobes, none 

 of the leaves of A. trilobatum showing a disposition to a five-lobate division. 

 The leaf is comparable to that of Sassafras (Araliopsis) disseetam (PI. XIV, 

 Fig. 1), the form of the median lobe and the disposition of the secondaries 

 being about the same in both leaves, differing much, however, by the basilar 

 appendage or stipule and the more obtusely dentate or lobed borders. 



The basilar shield of Aspidiophyllum has a great affinity to the basilar 

 expansion remarked upon some of the largest leaves of Plafnuus occiden- 

 talis, which are sometimes prolonged downward to a round, entire, or lobed 

 stipular base, covering the upper part of the top of the petiole or of the 

 median nerve in its continuation to the petiole, which passes underneath. 

 This, as has already been remarked, is not the onlv point of affinity that 

 the leaves of Sassafras (Araliopsis) and Aspidiophyllum have with those of 

 Platanus, the nervation of all being of the same type. 



Habitat: Probably Ellsworth County, Kansas. No. 614 of the col- 

 lection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, of Cambridge, Massa- 

 chusetts. 



Aspidiophyllum platanifolium Lesq. 



Cret. and Tert. Fl., p. 88, PI. ii. Fig. 4. 



ASPEDIOPHTLLUM TRILOBATUM Lesq. 



Cret. and Tert. Fl., p. 87, PI. xn. Fig. 1 ; PI. xiii, Figs. 1-5 ; PI. xiv. Fig. 1. 



