6 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL, MUSEUM vol. 72 



Phylum SPERMATOPHYTA 



Order PANDANALES 



Family TYPHACEAE 



Genus TYPHA Linneaeus 



TYPHA LESQUEREUXI Cockerell 

 Plate 1, figs. 13-15 



Typha latissvma Lesqi^ireux, U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr. Rept., vol. 8 (Creta- 

 ceous and Tertiary floras), p. 141, pi. 23, flgs. 4, 4a., 1883. — Penhallow, 

 Tert. PI. British Columbia Rept., p. 93, 1908. 



Typha lesquereuxi CocKEiRELL, Torrey Bot. Club. Bull., vol. 33, p. 307, 1906 ; 

 Univ. Colorado Studies, vol. 3, p. 175, 1906. — Knowlton, U. S. Nat. Mus. 

 Proc, vol. 51, p. 251, 1916. 



Bpathyemaf nevadensis Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Surv. 21st Ann. Rept., pt. 

 2, p. 211, pi. 30, figs. 17, 18, 1900. 



There are numerous fragmentary leaves of this genus in the Esmer- 

 alda formation. Associated with these are numerous flattened rhi- 

 zomes, with rootlet scars, which I have tentatively considered to rep- 

 resent the same species, although they might, perhaps, equally well 

 be considered to be the rhizomes of some large semiaquatic grass. 

 Their precise identification is not so important as the fact that they 

 undoubtedly represent the peculiar fragments from these beds which 

 Kiiowlton called Spathyema {?) nevadensis and thought were frag- 

 ments of a spadix of some monocotyledonous plant. 



The present leaves are referred to the same species as those from 

 Florissant, Colo., with which they are in entire agreement, although 

 it is obvious that the leaves of Typha show no trustworthy specific 

 characters. 



The genus embraces about a dozen existing species of marsh and 

 aquatic plants, widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions. 

 There are two species in eastern North America, and one survives on 

 the Pacific slope in California. 



A variety of uncertainly identified leaf fragments from the mid- 

 Cretaceous upward have been referred to Typha, More recently 

 Reid and Chandler^ have described characteristic fruits and seeds 

 associated with leaves from the Oligocene of southern England. 



Occurrence. — Coal prospect 4 miles southeast of Morgan Ranch 

 and 15 miles west of Hawthorne, Mineral County, Nev. 



Plesiotypes—Cai. No. 37,300, U.S.N.M. 



* Reid, E. M., and Chandler, M. E. J., Tlie Bembridffe flora. 



