CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PLEISTOCENE FLORA OF 
NORTH CAROLINA? 
EDWARD W. BERRY 
Johns Hopkins University 
INTRODUCTION 
During the summer of 1906, while engaged in a geological recon- 
naissance in North Carolina under the auspices of the Geological 
Survey of that state, two very interesting plant-beds of Pleistocene 
age were discovered, from which about forty different species of 
plants were collected. It is planned to describe and to fully illus- 
trate these, together with future collections which it is hoped will be 
made, in a systematic volume devoted to the fossil remains of North 
Carolina; but, since it will be several years before this plan can be 
consummated, it seems desirable to publish a_ brief preliminary 
account of these plants, in so far as they have been determined, 
because of their by no means inconsiderable interest. To the geolo- 
gist their chief interest is their bearing upon Pleistocene climates and 
their circumstantial evidence as to the very slight lapse of time, from 
a geological point of view, since glacial conditions came to a close. 
For the botanist they tend to show that some of the main elements in 
our present coastal plain flora, especially the arborescent forms, were 
already well defined in Pleistocene times, and that, while very likely 
a considerable part of the endemic herbaceous flora of the coastal 
plain has been differentiated in postglacial times, this theory cannot 
be extended to include many of the arborescent forms. The bulk of 
the following species are from a deposit on the Neuse River in Wayne 
County which I regard as of estuarine origin, laid down in post-glacial 
times, although it is quite possible that we have to deal with river 
deposits.? 
t Published by permission of the North Carolina Geological Survey. 
2 Marine Pleistocene fossils occur near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, and an 
abundant marine fauna of Pleistocene age has been obtained from several artesian 
wells in New Hanover and Brunswick counties. 
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