PART 11. 



The Fossil Flora of West Virginia 



By DAVID WHITE 



The following list includes the species of fossil plants pub- 

 lished by various geologists as having been found in the upper 

 Paleozoic and Pleistocene formations of West Virginia. The 

 plant-bearing beds represented belong to the Pocono, the basal 

 formation of the Mississippian ("Lower Carboniferous") series; 

 the Princeton conglomerate member, of Chester age, also in 

 the Mississippian series; several formations in the Pottsville 

 group, the basal division of the Pennsylvanian ("Upper Carbon- 

 iferous") series; and from various members or beds in the Alle- 

 gheny, Conemaugh and Dunkard formations which constitute the 

 remainder of the Pennsylvanian, and the Permian in the bituminous 

 regions of the Appalachian trough. The Quaternary system is 

 represented by the Carmichaels clay, an interglacial deposit of 

 pre-Wisconsin age. 



In West Virginia the fossil plants of some of the formations, 

 like the Allegheny, for example, have received very little attention, 

 and the lists for these formations are accordingly short, while in 

 others, like the Quinnimont and Kanawha (both of Pottsville 

 age), our paleobotanical knowledge is based predominantly on 

 material from this state. The floras of the Conemaugh have had 

 but little study, and their differentiation from those of the Mon- 

 ongahela, on the one hand, or from those of the Allegheny on the 

 other, is therefore at present very incomplete. The composition 

 and characteristics of the plant life of the Monongabela also are 

 but little understood, though it is known that the floras contain 

 much that is present in, though not peculiar to, the Dunkard 

 (basal Permian). The remains of a meager flora occurring near 

 the top of the Greenbrier limestone in West Virginia are wholly 

 unstudied and unrecorded. Consequently they do not appear in 

 the list. Further study will greatly enlarge a number of the lists 

 from formations containing large and interesting floras that are 

 as yet comparatively unstudied. 



Many of the names quoted in the accompaning li.sts are based 



