ANGIOSPEKMiE. 



155^ 



Cistacece (Rock-roses) a Cistus has been described from that of 

 Germany. A Kiggelaria, from the Upper Eocene of Saxony, is the 

 only fossil representative of the Bixacece. The tropical family Ter?i- 

 strcemiacece is somewhat better known ; thus we find Pentaphylax 

 in amber of middle Tertiary age, while Stuartia also occurs in 

 amber as well as in Pliocene beds. The genera Ternstrmmia, 

 Freziera, and Sauruja are known as fossils only by their leaves ; 

 the first dating from the Cretaceous of Bohemia, the second from 

 the Eocene, and the third from the Miocene. Another tropical 

 family, the Dipterocarpece, is represented in the Eocene of Sumatra 

 and Borneo by species of the genus Diptero carpus, now inhabiting 

 the same regions, and yielding the balsam of Copaiba. 



Order 8. Columnifer^e. — This order includes the four families 

 Tiliacea*, Sterculiacece, Malvacece, and Bombacece. In the first the 

 existing genera Tilia (Lime), Grewi'a, and Elceocarpus occur fossil, 

 the former dating from the Laramie, and the two latter from the 

 L^pper Eocene or Lower Miocene. Of extinct genera we may 

 mention the Cretaceous and Lower Eocene Grewiopsis and Apei- 

 bopsis ; the former being known by leaves, and the latter by gourd- 

 like fruits, of very common occurrence in the London Clay, which 

 resemble those of the existing American genus Apeiba. Norden- 

 skiceldia is based on allied fruits from the Tertiary of Spitzbergen. 

 The Sterculiacece is an exclusively tropical family of trees and 

 shrubs, in which the existing genus 

 Sterculia commences in the Da- 

 kota Cretaceous, and continues 

 right through the European Ter- 

 tiaries. Extinct genera are Dom- 

 beyopsis, Pterosper mites, and Fraca- 

 stella, all of which commence in 

 the Cretaceous, and continue to 

 the Lower or Middle Tertiary. 

 The leaves of Dombeyopsis (fig. 

 141 7) are acutely trilobate, with 

 numerous veins. The Malvacece 

 and Bombacece have left but little 

 record of their past history ; but 

 Bombax occurs in the Upper Eo- 

 cene of Europe. 



Order 9. Gruixales. — The 

 palaeontology of this order, which 

 includes Geraniums, Tropaeolums, 

 Sorels, Flax, and Balsams, may be summed up in very few words. It 

 is thought that Geranium may occur in amber ; the Tertiary Oxali- 

 dites is referred to the Oxalidacece ; but the Tertiary fruit described 



Fig. 1417. — Under surface of a leaf of 

 Dcmibeyopsis Decheni; from the Lower Mio- 

 cene of Germany. One-fourth natural size. 

 (After Schenk.) 



