^'o. 491] 



PLEISTOCENE PLANTS 



693 



Fagus ferruginea Ait., Knowlton, Amer. Geol, vol. 18, p. 371, 

 1896. 



Mercer, Journ. Phila. Acad., (ii), vol. 11, pp. 277, 281, fig. 

 8 (15), 1899. 



In the modern flora the beech is a prominent element in the 

 mesophile valley forests of the Alleghenian, Carolinian and l.ouisi- 

 anian zones. It was also a very prominent Pleistocene type and 

 has been recorded from the Pleistocene of Pennsylvania, IVIaryland, 

 Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. Near 

 Abercrombies Landing it is represented in the peat by four or five 

 of the characteristic husks, two nuts and one imperfect leaf. 



Quercus nigra Linnd, Sp. PL, p. 995, 1753. 

 PI. 1, Figs. 3, 4. 



Berry, Journ. Geol., vol. 15, p. 342, 1907. 



This species ranges in the Piccent from the Louisianian zone 

 northward as far as Delaware and is common throughout Alabama 

 where it inhabits low rich woods and sandy pine-barren swamps. 

 It is by far the most abundant leaf in the peat deposits, possibly 

 due to its ability to resist decay; in the clays a single impression 

 was found, showing the basal two thirds of a leaf. This species 

 has recentlv been recorded bv the writer from the Pleistocene of 

 North Carolina. 



Quercus virginiana .Alill, Card. Did., Ed. 8, No. IC, 17G8. 

 PI. 1, Fig. 2. 



The live oak is a tree of the sea-coast, and in Alabama rarely 

 occurs north of latitude 31°. Thus its northern limit in this state 

 is about one hundred miles due south of Abercrombies Landing, — 

 collateral evidence, if such were necessary, that the Pleistocene 

 sea or estuaries of it reached as far north as this y)oint in the late 

 Pleistocene. The species is present in })oth the i)eat and in tlie 

 overlying clays, and so far as I am aware has not previously l)een 



Quercus prinus Liiitic, Sp. PL. p. !Hh;. ]7.">:;. 

 I'l- 1, Fig. 5. 



Berry, Journ. GcoL, vol. 15, p. 342, 1907. 



