TORREYA 



August, 1916. 

 Vol. 16 No. 8 



A ZAMIA FROM THE LOWER EOCENE 



By Edward W. Berry 



Although Zamia-like foliage is so common and widespread in 

 Mesozoic deposits the world over and more than thirty species 

 of Zamia still exist in tropical and sub-tropical America, in- 

 cluding two that occur in our Floridian region, thfr number of 

 cycads that have thus far been discovered in Tertiary deposits 

 anywhere is extremely limited. 



Much interest therefore attaches to the discovery of a small- 

 leafed form of Zamia in the sandy clays of the upper Wilcox at 

 Meridian, Mississippi. At this outcrop the plant-bearing clays 

 overlie marine glauconitic sand with mollusca of upper Wilcox 

 age. The cycads are associated with an endless number of 

 leaves and other remains of a large new species of Nelumbo, 

 with leaves of a fan palm and with species of Lygodium, Sapindus, 

 Nectandra, Mespilodaphne, Ficiis, Comhretum, Dalhergites and 

 Aralia. All of these are members of a coastal flora containing 

 many sub-tropical elements and of wide extent in southeastern 

 North America during the early Tertiary. 



The new Zamia may be described as follows : 



Zamia mississippiensis sp. nov. 



Leaves elongate, slender and linear. Rachis stout. Pinnules 

 small, crowded, opposite or sub-opposite, bluntly pointed, con- 

 stricted proximad to a relatively broad inequilateral base, 

 attached to the sides of the top of the rachis. Length 1.25 cm. 

 to 1.50 cm. Maximum width about 2 mm. Margins entire. 

 Texture coriaceous. Venation consisting of from eight to ten 

 longitudinally sub-parallel veins, occasionally dichotomous 

 proximad (text figures 1-3). 



This characteristic Zamia is represented in the present col- 

 lections by three specimens, two of which are figured. In the 

 [No. 7. Vol. 16, of ToRREYA, Comprising pp. 151-176. was issued 12 Julv, 1916.] 



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