95 



side; sides subparallel, very irregularly, not very sharply, den- 

 tate, the width of the leaf 52 mm. from base 38 mm. ; the greatest 

 width, about 13 mm. from the base, 45 mm.; basal nerves form- 

 ing an angle of about 60 degrees with the midrib. Except for 

 the long petiole, there is a general resemblance to Q. stipularis 

 Humbolt and Bonpland, from Mexico, but probably the real 

 affinity is rather with the Asiatic species. . In the figure the 

 full length of the petiole is not shown. The only oak listed by 

 Knowlton in his revision of the Green River flora (1923) is 

 Q. castaneopsis Lesquereux, originally described from a leaf 

 lacking the base. This differs in dentition, and yet it might 

 have been possible to imagine our plant identical, but for the 

 fact that Knowlton had other material and was able to describe 

 the wedge-shaped base. The truncate base of our fossil is 

 singularly like the base of an Ailanthus leaflet, but the long peti- 

 ole shows that it is an entirely different thing. Curiously 

 enough, Lesquereux describes a species from the Green River 

 Eocene as Ailanthus longepetiolata, based on a leaf and a char- 

 acteristic Ailanthus fruit. The leaf is quite different from ours, 

 for although the margin is not dissimilar, the base is wedge- 

 shaped and the secondary veins are much more numerous. This 

 leaf has surely nothing to do with Ailanthus, but it might very 

 well be an oak. The name longipetiolata has been used in 

 Quercus. The samara, doubtfully referred here by Lesquereux, 

 figured in Cretac. and Tertiary Floras, pi. XL, fig. 7, may be 

 named Ailanthus lesquereuxi n. n. The type of Q. utensis is in 

 the University of Colorado Museum. 

 University of Colorado, 

 Boulder, Colorado 



NEWS NOTES 



The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is offering, as in other years, 

 a series of courses in botany, gardening and nature study. 

 Courses designed for teachers include. Fall garden work. Green- 

 house work. Fall nature study. Courses for the public are: 

 Gardening in the Fall; The life of plants; Outdoor course on 

 the trees and shrubs of Greater New York; Fall flowers, fruits 

 and seeds. 



