LIBRARY 

 NEW YORK 

 BOTANICAL 



TORREYA "*'*°"'^ 



January, igog 

 Vol. 9. No. I. 



A NEW GENUS OF FOSSIL FAGACFAE 

 FROM COLORADO* 



By Arthur Hot. lick 



Among the many beautifully preserved specimens of fossil 

 plant remains from the Tertiary shales of Florissant, Colorado, 

 sent to me for examination by Professor Theodore D. A. Cock- 

 erell, are the two here figured. They present the rare com- 

 bination of leaves and fruit, the latter in different stages of 

 development, attached to their respective branches, thus enabling 

 us to identify the several parts as belonging to one and the same 

 species. 



Detached leaves of this species are abundantly represented in 

 the shales, and years ago these were described and subsequently 

 figured by Lesquereux; under the name Planera loiigifolia ; f but 

 the correctness of their reference to this genus has generally been 

 regarded as questionable by those who had occasion to critically 

 examine them. The nervation of the leaves is not typical of 

 Planera, and the characters of the fruit, now found unmistakably 

 associated with them, demonstrate beyond question that the 

 original generic identification was erroneous. Lt view of these 

 circumstances it therefore becomes advisable to determine, if 

 possible, the correct botanical affinities of the remains and to 

 redescribe them in the light of our newly acquired information 

 concerning them. 



The fructification is, superficially, so strongly suggestive of the 

 Fagaceae that it is difficult to resist the conviction that relation- 

 ship at least with this family is clearly indicated, and the leaves 



y^ * Illustrated with the aid of the McManes fund. 



QQ t Sixth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr. 1872: 371. 1873. Rept. U. S. 



CO Geol. Surv. Terr. 7 (Tert. Fl.) : 189. //. 27. f. 4-6. 1878. 



[No. 12, Vol. 8, of ToRREYA, comprising pages 277-315, was issued January 6, 



<t 1909-] 



