KOI Bfl OS l II l BALD I \ PB1 98 . 



related §] tea iru living in Greenland, and its kindred have been traced 



\ irthern Europe and elsewhere; bo thai tin- genua has long been a 

 tenant "t" this continent. Among these ancient cypresses there are some, 

 particularly Taxodium dubium Sternb. ap., which are verj nearly related 



to our existing forms; Like it. they seem to have l n tenants of Bwamps, 



- ifficiently proven by the Gael that their leaves and delicate extreme 

 branches are found in t!i al beds of the miocene time. It aeema prob- 

 able that the American varieties have descended from Borne one of these 

 ancient forma — most likely from T. dubium. Further back, in the Car* 

 boniferoua flora, we find a number of conifers, from some one of which this 

 genua may be descended. I have been unable to find an) evidence of the 

 existence >>t" these kneea in the recorded observationa of those who have 

 studied the ancient Bpeciea of Taxodium. Though this failure to observe 

 them in the fossil form may not be taken as evidence thai the kneea are 

 of ni".l>Tii origin, it certainly suggests the interesting question whether 

 this may bathe case, and makes it very desirable that the observers who 

 may hereafter encounter fossil Bpeciea of this genua should endeavor to 



determine the presen r absence of these processes. The fad thai the 



ancient speciea were Bwamp-dwellera makes it likely that the kneea were 

 nt. 



the existing distribution of thia tr-'<'. it Beema to me that it has 



probably I n driven from an association, on the elevated lands, with the 



other trees of the forests in the Mississippi Valley, and has found a refuge 

 in the Bwamps; and that but for thia special adaptation to different i"ii- 

 iliti.'ii- afforded it by the knees, it would have been altogether driven "in 

 by the deciduous vegetation of the country where it ia found. It is clear 

 that thia last remnant of a great lineageof forest trees ia no longer able 

 to maintain it->-lt' in the contest with forma with which it. in miocene days, 

 nearer equality. Although it- Boeds are borne in 

 rast quantities on to the elevated ground that bordera the swamps, we never 



find it in the w la where it would have had to struggle with th<' other 



i •>ni no incapacity to live and flourish upon th< 



of the uplands, i<r I know many very flourishing trees growing in a variety 

 of open grounds in gardens and lawns in various parts of Kentucky. In 

 tnd arborctuma in Europe it has proven a hardy and rapid 

 Its rate of growth on the elevated terrace de|K»»its at Frank- 

 fort, Kentucky, has been much more rapid than the average of our foresl 



