THE FLORA OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 

By EDWARD WILBER BERRY. 

INTRODUCTION. 

During the progress of my studies of the 

fossil floras of the Gulf Coastal Plain, embracing 

all horizons from the Lower Cretaceous to the 

Pleistocene and prosecuted under the general 

direction of T. Wayland Vaughan, material 

representing the floras of all the major stratigraphic units in the area extending from weste~:n Florida to central Texas has been discovered. Field work and office studies of all these 

floras have proceeded more or less simultaneously, and a large amount of manuscript in 

various stages of completio~ has been accumulated. The floras of the Upper Cretaceous and 

Eocene of South Carolina and Georgia have 

been described 1 and a report on the very large 

lower Eocene floras is now in press.2 

Because of their exceptional stratigraphic 

importance in solving some of the problems 

connected with the so-called "Grand Gulf complex" I was asked to submit. a report on the 

fossil plants discovered within the limits of the 

Catahoula sandstone. This report was submitted in March, 1913. Since it was written a 

number of additional collections have been 

made from scattered localities, notably in eastern Texas, where through the cooperation of 

Mr. C. L. Baker, working _under the supervision 

of Mr. E. T. Dumble, several important collections were obtained. It is my plan to discuss 

these several Coastal Plain floras exhaustively, 

as in the reports cited above, and for this reason 

it has been deemed inadvisable to endeavor to 

bring the description of the Catahoula flora entirely up to date at this time. In the following 

t Berry, E. W., The Upper Cretaceous and Eocene floras of South Carolina and Georgia: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 84, 1914. 

2 Berry, E. W., The lower Eocene floras of southeastern ~orth America: U. S. Gaol. Survey Prof. Paper 91 (in press). 

pages only the more important discoveries that 

have been made since March, 1913, have been 

included. The plants from the Catahoula 

sandstone that still await description and illustration are largely represented by petrified 

wood, and until these remains are studied it 

will be impossible to determine whether any of 

.the fossil plants obtained in western Louisiana 

and eastern Texas are of late Eocene (Jackson) 

age, although this seems to be very probable. 

The uppermost Eocene, Oligocene, and lowest Miocene deposits of Europe have furnished 

very extensive fossil floras, several of which, 

such as those of the gypsiferous shales of Aix 

and other localities in southeastern France/ ofthe lignites of Haering, in Tyrol,4 of Monte 

Promina, in Dalmatia,5 and of the Styrian 

lignites,6 are classic. 

In striking contrast to the abundant floras 

in Europe, very few plants of these ages have 

been found in North America, and practically 

nothing is known of the Oligocene floras of this 

continent. For this reason, as well as for the 

light it has shed on certain stratigraphic problems, the small flora in the Oligocene of the embayment area, from Texas eastward to western 

Mississippi, is of unusual interest, although it is 

in general poorly preserved and f:r:agmentary. 

The collection on which the present paper is 

based comes from ten localities. Six of these 

localities-5 miles north of Jasper in Jasper 

County, Tex.; in Rapides and Grant parishes, 

La.; Washington, Adams County, Miss.; 5 

miles north of Waynesboro, Wayne County, 

3 Sa porta, Gaston de, Etudes sur la vegetation du sud-est de la France 

a l'epoque tertiaire: Annales sci. nat., Botanique, 1862 to 1889. 

4 Ettingshausen, Constantin, Die tertiare Flora von Haring in Tirol; 

K. k. geol. Reichsanstalt Wien Abh., Bd. 2, Abt. 3, 118 pp., 31 pls., 1853. 

6 Mainly elaborated by Ettingshausen, K. Akad. Wiss. Wien Denkschr., vol. 8, 1855. 

o Set forth in a large number of papers by Ettingshausen and Unger. 

227 
228 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

Miss.; and on · Bayou Pierre, Miss., near the 

Claiborne-Copiah county line-have furnished 

only the petrified remains of the wood of the 

very abundant tropical palms which clothed the 

shores of the Oligocene sea. The remains of 

identifiable leaves have been found at only four 

localities. Two small collections were made at 

the so-called Chalk Hills, 2 miles south of Rosefield,. La., one by G. D. Harris 1 and the other by 

me; a small collection was made by me near 

King, 5 miles south of Florence, Rankin County, 

Miss.; and a fourth collection came from Trinity County, Tex. 

The species listed on page 230, 24 in number, 

have been identified from these 10 localities. 

These species include- one fungus, two ferns, 

eight palms, a fig, an indubitable member of 

the family Proteacere (Embothrites), a species 

of pond apple or Anona, a species of rain tree 

(Pithecolobium), of the family Mimosacere; 

abundant remains of four varieties of satinwood (Fagara), of the family Rutacere; a species 

of Judas thorn (Paliurus), of the family Rhamnacere; another of coast myrtle or Myrcia, of 

the family Myrtacere; and two species of the 

family Sapotacere related to the genus Bumelia 

or iron wood. The collections include also fragmentary remains of other species that are too 

poor for satisfactory identification. 

The most abundant and widely distributed 

elements in this Oligocene flora are the petrified 

remains of palm wood which are referred to the 

genus Palmoxylon and many of which are 

in an excellent state of preservation. Seven 

species are based on remains of this sort, and 

all seven of these species have been previously 

described by Felix, Stenzel, or Knowlton. A 

short paper by Knowlton 2 on two species of 

palm wood from Rapides Parish, La., is the 

only previous contribution to the paleobotany 

of the Oligocene of this general region. All 

the other species are new to science. 

Although this flora is too small to be representative, and the majority of the forms 

described have been found only in this region, 

nevertheless it furnishes decisive information 

· on the physical conditions along the border of 

the Oligocene sea and also abundant data for 

1 I am indebted to Mr. Arthur Hollick and the'authorities of the New 

York Botanical Garden for the privilege of studying this collection. 

2 Knowlton, F. H., Description of two species of Palmoxylon-one 

new-from Louisiana: U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 11, pp. 89-91, pl. 30, 

1888. 

determining the approximate age of the depos~ 

its. As the. climatic conditions which may 

legitimately be deduced from this assemblage 

form one of the factors used in correlation, this 

phase of the problem may be considered first.-

My studies during the last few years have 

resulted in the discovery of extensive Tertiary 

floras throughout southeastern North America, 

and although the descriptions of these floras 

have not yet been published, they have been 

rather fully worked out in manuscript. An 

enumeration at the present time shows a flora 

of 10 species in the Midway 0), 335 species in 

the Wilcox, about 75 species in the Claiborne, 

about 75 species in the Jackson (all Eocene), 

and 15 species in the Apalachicola (Oligocene). 

Fairly definite evidence regarding the climatic 

conditions of the border land is furnished by 

these floras, and this evidence is capable of 

being checked by the abundant marine faunas, 

so that what is said in the following paragraphs -

on the climate of Oligocene time is based not 

only on extensive comparisons between the 

Oligocene and the existing floras, but also on a 

knowledge of the floras of the epochs that immediately preceded and followed the Oligocene. 

To turn now to the different units in this 

flora it may be noted that the fern genus 

Acrostichum is . exclusively tropical in the 

existing flora, its most abundant species being 

the widespread A.crostichum aureum, a very 

gregarious inhabitant of coastal swamps, where 

it associates with mangroves and nipa palms. 

The existing species of the fern genus Lygodium, with but one exception, are inhabitants 

of coastal tropical thickets. The very great 

abundance and diversity of palms in the Oligocene flora also indicates tropical conditions, 

for although the study of palm woods has not 

reached a point where generic relationships 

can be positively affirmed, Stenzel, our foremost 

authority on palm anatomy, considers all these 

Oligocene species as most closely related to 

either Corypha or Cocos, and in addition several 

are present among the silicified woods of the 

island of Antigua, where tropical conditions 

must have prevailed throughout the Oligocene 

epoch. Ficus is not exclusively a tropical type, 

but of the 600 existing species a great majority 

are confined to the equatorial region and only 

a very few penetrate into the warmer parts of 

the Temperate Zone. The genus Embothrites 
FLORA OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 229 

is named from its resemblance to the existing 

genus Embothrium Forster and may or may 

not be strictly comparable with that genus. 

Embothrium has several species in the mountains of tropical Australia and in the Andean 

region of South America, from Peru southward into the Temperate Zone. It seems 

probable that the Tertiary genus is really a distinct member of the family Proteacem, which 

in the existing flora is largely tropical in its 

distribution. The genus Anona has about 50 

existing species and occurs in all tropical 

countries. The greatest distance from the 

Equator that it reaches is shown by the species 

found on the Florida keys. The genus Pithe~ 

colobium of the family Mimosacem, has over 

100 existing species, all of which are confined 

to the Torrid Zone. 

The genus Fagara, which is so abundant at 

the Chalk Hills locality in Louisiana, has over 

150 existing species, which are cosmopolitan 

in tropical and subtropical countries. The ecologic conditions at the locality where the Fagara 

leaves are so abundant are closely comparable 

with those prevailing at the present time in the 

lagoons behind the keys of southern peninsular Florida, where very similar species of 

Fagara are among the commonest of coastal 

plants. The sediments are, however, very 

different. At the Chalk Hills there are alternate layers of coarse sands and finely divided 

chert, but behind the Florida keys the deposits 

are calcium carbonate. The genus Paliurus, 

of which a small-leafed species is represented 

in the present collection, is almost entirely 

extinct at the present time, over 90 per cent 

of its known species being of Tertiary age. 

The two existing species are of warm temperate 

Eurasiatic habitats, but this fact lacks significance in the present connection, for the fossil 

forms are almost invariably associated with 

floras which must be regarded as at least subtropical. The genus Myrcia, represented by a 

single species in this Oligocene flora, inoludes 

over 400 existing species confined exclusively 

to the American Tropics and embraGing many 

closely comparable coastal forms. The genus 

Bumelia, to which the two forms of Oligocene 

Sapotacem are related, is confined to America 

in the existing flora, embracing about a score 

of species distributed from northern Brazil 

through Central America and the West Indies 

to tha southern United States. Among these 

the form most similar to the fossil species is 

Bumelia horrida Grise bach, of the West Indies. 

It will be seen from the foregoing enumeration that this fossil flora is strictly tropical in 

its facies-in fact, it must be regarded as the 

most tropical flora known from the Tertiary 

formations of the Southern States. This conclusion is borne out by a study of the associated 

marine faunas, which are regarded by Vaughan1 

as indicating a bottom temperature between 

70° and 80° F. 

The flora contains no upland or inland types 

and may be regarded as a strictly coastal flora 

made up of groups comparable with those 

found along the strand in the present-day 

Tropics. 

As bearing on the age of the deposits in 

which the flora here discussed has been found, 

it may be noted that this flora is of too tropical 

a character, even after allowances are made for 

my perhaps undue emphasis on its tropical 

aspect, to have been capable of existing during 

any post-Chipola epoch in our Southern States. 

This fact alone effectually disposes of the possibilities that the part of the so-called "Grand 

Gulf for·mation " immediately overlying the 

Vicksburg is of Pliooene or·more recent age, as 

has been asserted by some students. Moreover, these deposits are interbedded with the 

Vicksburg limestone in Louisiana and immediately overlie it in central Mississippi, much of 

the petrified palm wood being found in depressions in the Vicksburg surfaoe. At least one 

and probably two of the species of palm wood 

are common to the Oligocene of the island of 

Antigua. Another occurs in the Jackson of 

Louisiana, and a fourth in the Vicksburg of 

Alabama. Similarly the palm leaves referred 

to Sabalites vicksburgensis occur in the Jackson 

of Texas. 

Finally the facies of the flora as a whole is 

that of the abundant floras found in the early 

Oligocene of southern Europe, notably in Provence, France, in Tyrol, and in Dalmatia and 

Styria. Not only does it exhibit this parallelism with these European early Oligocene 

floras, but when the genera are considered sEparately it appears that almost without exception 

they have not been found in what are now 

temperate latitudes in any beds younger than 

Oligocene. 

1 Vaughan, T. W., A contribution to the geologic history of the Floridian Plateau: Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 133, p. 152, 1910. 
230 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

An exhaustive statement regarding . the until the final report has been completed. 

stratigraphic relations to one another of the Appended is a list of the species described in 

several outcrops of the Catahoula at which the following pages, with their stratigraphic 

fossil plants have been discovered is postponed position as determined by Mr. Matson. 

Fossil plants from the Catahoula sandstone. 

Name. Locality. 

Pestalozzites minor........ . . . . . . Chalk Hills, La .............. . Lygodium mississippiensis ........ King, Miss .......... .......... . Acrostichum smithi . . ........... .... . do ...................... . Cupressites sudworthi.......... . . Chalk Hills, La .............. . Sabalites vicksburgensis .............. do ...................... . Palmoxylon microxylon.......... Rapides Parish, La ........... . Palmoxylon cellulosum ........... Rapides Parish, La.; Bayou 

Pierre, Miss. 

Palmoxylon texense............ . . 5 miles north of Jasper, Tex . .. 

!

Fish Creek, north of Pollock, 

Palmoxylon lacunosum.......... La. 

1 mile east of Galbraith, La ... Palmoxylon remotum............ 5 miles north of Waynesboro, 

Miss. 

Palmoxylon mississippiensis ..... Washington, Miss ............ . Palmoxylon ova tum .................. _do. __ ..... . ............. . Ficus sp. (fruits)................ Chalk Hills, La .............. . Embothrites ungeri .......... ... .. ... do ...................... . Anona texana.................... Trinity County, Tex .. .. ..... . Pithecolobium oligocrenum ...... " Chalk Hills, La.: . ........... . Fagara catahoulensis orbiculata ....... do ...... .... ... ....... .. . Fagara catahoulensis coriacea ..... .. .. do .... .... _ ............. . Fagara catahoulensis major .......... . do ...... : ............... . Fagara catahoulensis elongata ........ . do ..................... . . Paliurus catahoulensis ................ do ............ . ... . ..... . Myrcia catahoulensis .............. .... do ...................... . Bumelia vicksburgensis .. ..... ....... do ...................... . Carpolithus bumeliaformis ........ . ... do .. ........ ...... .. .... . 

Horizon. 

Catahoula sandstone (in beds of Vicksburg age). 

Ca tahoula sandstone ( m beds of Chattahoochee age). 

Do. . Catahoula sandstone (in beds of Vicksburg age). 

Do. 

Catahoula sandstone (age?). 

Catahoula sandstone (in beds of Chattahoochee 

age). · Catahoula sandstone (in beds of Vicksburg age). 

Do. 

Do. 

Surface of Vicksburg. 

Catahoula sandstone (age ?). 

Do. 

Catahoula sandstone (in beds of Vicksburg age). Do. · 

Fayette sandstone (in beds of Jackson age). 

Catahoula sandstone (in beds of Vicksburg age). 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

THE FLORA. 

Phylum THALLOPHYTA. 

Fungi imperfecti. 

Order :MELANCONIALES. 

Family :MELANCONIACElE. 

Genus PESTALOZZITE.S Berry, n. gen. 

Pleospora, and . Stagonospora, any of which 

might cause leaf spotting. The name given 

may well serve, however, as a form genus for 

remains of this sort and . no harm is done in . 

commemorating the resemblance to the existing genus Pestalozzia De Notley, the only 

modern genus whose effects are so regular in 

appearance. 

The genus Pestalozzites is proposed for 

fossil leaf-sp~t fungi that attacked fan palms 

and formed nondiffuse spots with plainly 

·marked outlines and more or less regular 

form. It was suggested by the identity in 

appearance between P estalozzites sabalana Berry 

(manuscriptname)andPestalozziasp.cf. P. palmarum Cooke 1 found infesting Serenoa serrulata 

(Michaux) Hooker. I fully realize that appearances are deceptive and that there are a large 

number of parasitic fungi which attack existing 

palms, as, for example, species of the genera 

Ascochyta, Diplodia, Exosporium, Phoma, 

~ Kindly identified for the writer by Mrs. Flora W. Patterson, of the 

Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

In a considerable amount of fossil material 

the characteristic spotting of this type is 

mainly confined to the leaf rays of a Saballike form, but in the Claiborne species Thrinax 

eocenica Berry it occurs on both the rays and 

the rachis. 

Pestalozzites minor Berry, n. sp. 

Plate LV, figure 2. 

Essential characters unknown. Found infesting the rays of Sabalites vicksburgensis 

Berry, where it forms relatively small, usually 

nearly circular leaf spots, which average 

about 1 millimeter in diameter. These remains 

are of trifling value from either the botanist's 
FLORA OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 231 

or the geologist's point of view, nevertheless 

they are of considerable interest as indicating 

the presence of this type of plant life in the 

Oligocene epoch. Indistinguishable remains 

are present on both the rays and the rachis of 

the Claiborne species Thrinax eocenica Berry. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk 

Hills, 2 miles south of Rosefield, La. 

Collection: New York Botanical Garden. 

Phylum PTERIDOPHYTA. 

Order FILICALES. 

Family SCHIZJEACEJE. 

Genus LYGODIDM SwM'tz. 

Lygodium mississippiensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate LV, figures 3, 4. 

Pinnules small and somewhat coriaceous, 

bilobate. Base rounded. Margins entire, 

slightly undulate. Lobes narrow, linear, with 

rounded tips, diverging at an angle of about 

90° and separated by a right-angled sinus that 

approaches within 6 or 7 millimeters of the base. 

Width of lobes about 7 millimeters; length 

about 3 centimeters. Venation characteristic 

of the genus; rather open, considering the 

small size of the pinnules. At or just above 

the base the leaf trace of the pinnule forks 

at an angle of 55° to 66°, the branches curving 

outward and pursuing a course approximately 

in the middle of the lobes until they .become 

obsolete by repeated branching. The branches 

go off at acute angles and curve outward, forking one or more times (usually but once) by a 

narrow dichotomy and ending in the margin. 

The present species is based on very scanty 

and fragmentary remains found also in the 

Fayette sandstone of Trinity County, Tex. 

It is fully recognized that Lygodium pinnules 

are .in general variable in size, outline, and 

lobation and that the foregoing description is 

inadequate in many respects. At the same 

time this species represents a characteristic 

element in a meager flora which is of great 

interest to the student of comparative paleobotany. It is clearly distinct from the Wilcox 

or Claiborne species of Lygodium, the tendency 

seemingly having been in the direction of a 

progressive diminution in the size of the pinnules, a feature also noted in the records of the 

species of Lygodium found in the Tertiary of 

Eurol?e. 

It resembles somewhat but is perfectly distinct from Lygodium dentoni Lesquereux, 1 of 

the Green River formation in the Rocky Mountain region. It also resembles what J. Starkie 

Gardner terms a "dwarfed barren frond of 

Lygodium kaulfussi Heer from the Lutetian of 

southern England." 2 Saporta has described 

three species from the Sannoisian of southern 

France, a horizon not very different from the 

present one, which greatly resembles this speeies. They are Lygodium parvifolium,3 L. exquisitum/ and L. distractum. 5 Lygodium parvifolium is a small bilobate form very close to 

the present species; in fact, the two may be 

identical, but in the present state of our information, both species being rare and scantily 

represented, it is wiser to keep them distinct. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone near King, 

5 miles south of Florence, Rankin County, 

Miss. 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Family POLYPODIACElE. 

Genus ACROSTICHUM Linne. 

Acrostichum smithi Berry, n. sp. 

Plate LV, figures 5-8. 

Frond habit undeterminable, presumably 

pinnate and of large size. Pinnre variable 

in size and outline, ranging from reduced 

elongate-elliptical pinnre like those of the 

Claiborne-Jackson species Acrostichum georgianum Berry to forms with long, narrow pinnre 

and other forms with pinnre fully as large as 

those of the Yegua or "Cockfield" (upper 

Claiborne) and Green River species Acrostichum hesperium Newberry. The margins are 

entire but somewhat irregular and more or 

less revolute. The leaf substance is thick 

and the texture coriaceous, much more so 

than in either of the forms cited. Midrib stout 

and more or less flexuous. Lateral venation 

very fine and obsoure, of the typioal Acrostichum type, more ascending than in the species 

t Lesquereux, Leo, Contributions to the fossil flora of the Western 

Territories, pt. 2, The Tertiary flora: U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., 

vol. 7, p. 63, pl. 65, figs. 12, 13, 1878. 

2 Gardner, J. S., and Ettingshausen, Constantin, British Eocene 

Flora, vol. 1, p. 67, pl. 13, fig. 8, 1882. • 

a Sa porta, Gaston de, Etudes sur la vegetation du sud-est de la France 

a l'epoque tertiaire, vol. 3, suppl. 2, p. 87, pl. 1, fig. 14, 1867; Dernieres 

adjonctions a Ia flore fossil d' Aix-en-Provence, pl. 2, fig. 6, 1889. 

« Saporta, Gaston de, op. cit. (Etudes, etc.), p. 88, pl. 1, fig. 13. 

s Saporta, Gaston de , op. cit. (Dernieres adjonctions, etc.) , pt. 1, p. 24, 

pl. 2, fig. 8. 
232 SHOR.1'ER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

cited, with very narrow and much elongated 

areolre. 

This species is abundant but fragmentary in 

the Mississippi Oligocene, where the matrix is 

an argillaceous sand or sandy mudstone of shallow-water origin and not especially favorable 

for the preservation of plant remains. Soma 

years ago Dr. Eugene A. Smith showed me a 

nearly complete pinna about 12 centimeter~ in 

length that he had collected from this locality. 

I have not seen this specimen recently but presume it is still in the collections of the Alabama 

Geological Survey at University, Ala. The 

species is named · for Dr. Smith, who has done 

so much for southern geology and who discovered the plant locality near King, Miss., that 

makes it possible to correlate the deposits• 

definitely. 

The genus Acrostichum is made up of trop~ 

ical marsh ferns, its most representative species 

being Acrostichum aureum Linne, a cosmopolitan and common tropical and subtropical type 

inhabiting the mangrove and nipa tidal swamps 

as well as similar situations throughout the old 

and new worlds. The genus appears in the 

basal Eocene and has several European and 

American species in Eocene and Oligocene deposits, the principal forms being Acrostichum 

lanzeanum (Gardner and Ettingshausen), 1 of the 

European Lutetian and Bartonian, and Acrostichum georgianum Berry and Acrostichum hesperium Newberry, of the Claiborne, Jackson, 

and Green River deposits. Several other species from the European Oligocene (Sannoisian, 

Tongrian, and Chattian) that are comparable 

with the present form have been described. 

The present species is especially like Acrostichum strictum (Squinabol), of the Lower Tongrian of Ste. Justine, near Savone, in Liguria, 

Italy. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone near King, 

5 miles south of Florence, Rankin County, 

Miss. 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

1 Gardner, J. S., and Ettingshausen, Constantin, British Eocene flora, 

vol. 1, p. 26, pl. 1; pl. 2, figs. 1-4, 1879. 

""' 

Phylum SPERMATOPHYTA. 

Class GYMNOSPERMlE. 

Family PINACElE. 

Genus CUPRESSITES Bowerbank. 

Cupressite~ sudworthi Berry, n. sp. 

Plate LV, figure 1. 

Cones small, subglobose, 1.5 to 2 centimeters 

in diameter. Cone scales ligneous, decussate, 

less than 10 in number, · the exact number not 

determinable, peltate in form, with a thick 

axis abruptly dilated to the subangular four 

or five sided, expanded and transversely flattened tip, which is thick and radiately wrinkled 

from the subcentral mucronate umbo. 

The present species is based on poorly 

preserved an'd somewhat crushed cones whose ' substance at the Chalk Hills locality is replaced 

by a friable kaolinitic deposit. No traces of 

coniferous foliage have been found in association with them. These cones are very 

similar to those from the Lower Oligocene of 

Haering, in Tyrol, described by Unger 2 as 

Cupressites taxiformis, which Gardner, 3 apparently _on good grounds, transfers to the genus 

Cupressus and associates with cones from the 

supposedly older beds at Bournemouth (Middle 

Bagshot), in the south of England. The present material is too poorly preserved to show 

whether the proximal scales are fused or free ' or whether sterile scales persist at the base of 

the cone. As identity with Oupressus taxiformis can not be positively established these 

remains are described as new, and as they can 

not be definitely referred to the genus Cupressus rather than Chamrecyparis, they are 

referred to the form genus Cupressites of 

Bower bank and named in honor of Mr. 

George B. Sudworth, of the United States 

Fo"t'est Service. The species in a lignified 

state is present in beds of lower Jackson age 

in western Tennessee. 

2 Unger, Franz, Chloris protog:ea, p. 18, pl. 8, figs. 1-3; pl. 9, figs. 1-4, 

1847. ' 

a Gardner, J. S., British Eocene flora, vol. 2, p. 26, pl. 9, figs. 22-26, 

28-30, 1883. Other figures show the characteristic dimorphic foliage. 
FLORA OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 233 

The modern species of Cupressus are about The present species is close to previously 

12 ~n number, of comparatively warm climatic described forms of Sabalites, the specific rerequirements, found in southern Eurasia and lations of all of which are not certainly assured. 

in Pacific North America from California It differs from Sabalites apalachicolensis Berry 

southward to Central America, usually fre- , (unpublished) in its more slender rachis, 

quenting sandy habitats near the coast. The 1 longer acum-9n, thinner leaf, and more promimodern species of Chamrecyparis number four I nent venation. It may be distinguished from 

or five and are confined to the Atlantic and : the widespread ·vvilcox form Sabalites grayanus 

~ac~fic coast regions of N ~rth ~<\.merica and j Lesquereux by its more slender rachis, lack of 

similar, mostly swampy habitats 1n Japan and ! enlargement at the base of the leaf, and thinner 

Formosa. tex~ure. 

Occurrence : Chalk Hills, 2 miles south of j Sabalites vicksburgengis was a form that reRosefield, La. sembled in its habitat Sabalites apalachicoCollection: United States National Museum. lensis as well as the modern Sabal palmetto 

Class ANGIOSPERM.lE. 

Subclass MONOCOTYLEDONJE. 

Order ARECALES. 

Family ARECACE.lE. 

Genus SABALITES Saporta. 

Sa halites vicksburgensis Berry, n. sp. 

Leaves of variable size, flabellate, the maximum diameter estimated (from collected material) at about 120 centimeters. Rachis 

relatively slender, unarmed, not enlarged at 

the base of the leaf, continued upward as a 

long, slender, gradually narrowed acumen. 

Whether or not the two surfaces of the leaf 

differ, as they do in Sabalites grayanus Lesquereux, of the Wilcox, and Sabalites apalachicolensis Berry, of the Apalachicola group, 

can not be determined from the available 

material. Fragmentary counterparts of the 

base of a leaf indicate that the acumen is 

practically the same on both leaf surfaces. 

Rays carinate, about 40 in number; basal 

ones becoming smaller, narrower, closer, and 

more curved proximad; all are extended, 

linear-lanceolate, and acuminate, becoming 

free distad for greater or less distances, usually 

from one-third to one-half their total length. 

Maximum observed width of rays (near the 

middle), 3.6 centimeters. ·Midrib of rays stout. 

Lateral veins parallel with midrib, stout, 

about 30 on each side, one or two at irregular 

intervals on each side more prominent than 

their fellows, connected by fine transverse 

vei.nlets at right angles to the main parallel 

venation. Leaf substance relatively thin but 

stiff. 

Roemer and Schultes-that is to say, it 

probably never flourished far from the coast. 

It is represented in the collections by little 

first-class material, although the numerous ray 

fragments in the argillaceous sandstones of 

the Chalk Hills show that it must have been an 

abundant element in the flora of Vicksburg 

time. The Vicksburg is notable for the 

abundance of petrified fragments of palm 

stems found in its deposits and distributed in 

an arc extending from Texas through Louisiana, 

Mississippi, and Alabama, and probably reaching the West Indies on the one hand and 

:Mexico on the other. Seven different species 

based on these remains are described in the 

present study and bear eloquent testimony to 

the diversity of the palm flora and to the 

tropical character of the Vicksburg climate. 

Some of the Chalk Hills rays are infested with 

a leaf-spot fungus which I have described as 

Pestalozzites minor. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk 

Hills, 2 miles south of Rosefield, La. 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Genus PALMOXYLON Schenk. 

Palmoxylon. Schenk, Engler's Bot. Jahrb., vol. 3, p. 355, 

1882. 

The silicified remains of palm wood are 

exceedingly common in the late Eocene and 

Oligocene deposits from Texas eastward across 

Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and reappear in several of the Greater and Lesser 

Antilles, as well as in Mexico and on the 

Isthmus of Panama. These remains are fragmentary for the most part, although several 

large trunks have been seen. Usually they 

are found weathered out upon the surface, or 
234 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

reworked and more or less rolled, in Pleistocene and Recent deposits, in or immediately 

south of the area of outcrop of the Vicksburg 

deposits. 

In the early days fossil palm wood was referred to the genera Fasciculites Cotta and Endogenites Brongniart or Palmacites Brongniart, 

but Schenk, who made extensive contributions 

to this subject, united all the remains in the 

comprehensive form genus Palmoxylon, in 

which he has been followed by most subsequent writers. More recently two other German students, Felix and Stenzel, have devoted 

much time to the elucidation of petrified palm 

wood from various parts of the world.. Stenzel 

has given us the most comprehensive work on 

the subject 1 that has yet appeared, in which 

62 species of wood and 4 species of roots are 

elaborately described and figured, and extended 

comparisons are instituted between the fossil 

and living species of palms. 

The difficulties in the way of satisfactory 

systematic work on the internal structure of the 

Monocotyledonre are very much greater than 

with the Gymnospermre or the Dicotyledonre. 

Not only are. satisfactorily preserved specimens 

of fossil forms much rarer, by reason of their 

parenchymatous nature, but there is less characteristic generic variation among the palms, 

and furthermore the present state of our knowledge of .the anatomy of the existing species is in 

a very unsatisfactory condition. 

Felix, in his studies, divided palm woods into 

two .. sections-one in which small round sclerenchyma bundles are scattered through the stem 

parenchyma between the fibrovascular bundles, 

and one in which these auxiliary sclerenchyma 

bundles are lacking. Stenzel departs somewhat from this older method and uses a system 

based largely on a comparison of the arrangement, size, and struct·ure -of the bundles in the 

central and peripheral portions of the stem, 

and on the size and shape of the sclerenchyma 

portion of the fibrovascular bundles. 

In the present connection no attempt is mad£ 

to review the literature on fossil palms or on the 

anatomy of recent palms, the arrangement and 

supposed affinities as determined by· Stenzel 

bei.ng followed without any attempts at revision. The following key will facilitate the 

determmation of remains of this sort: 

!Stenzel, K. G., Fossile PalmenhOlzer: Beitr. Pal. Geol. OsterreichUngarn·s u. des Orients, vol. 16, pt. 4, pp. 1-182, pis. 1-22, 1904. 

Key of Oligocene species of Palmoxylon of southern United 

States. I 

Fibrovascular bundles all similar-that is, without 

perceptible differences between those of the central 

and p3ripheral regions of the stem; parenchyma 

without intercellular spaces: 

Sclerenchyma portion orbicular or ovate in cross. 

section, either truncate or with a broad, shallow 

indentation where it joins the vascular portion 

(reniform) ......................... .. ... . ovatum. 

Sclerenchyma portion deeply excavated (lunate) 

to receive the vascular portion, which is approximately equal to it in size. Fibrovascular bundles thin, 0.5 millimeter, close-:set, uniformly 

distributed. No auxiliary bundles .. mississippense. 

Fibrovascular bundles usually crowded in the peripheral region, more remote centrally; sclerenchyma 

portion strongly developed, · usually much larger 

than the vascular portion: 

Parenchymatous groundmass with intercellular 

spaces: 

With auxiliary sclerenchyma bundles: 

Fibrovascular bundles unsymmetrically 

arranged, crowded, sclerenchyma portion round. Auxiliary bundles rare, 

naked. Intercellular spaces not well 

defined in peripheral portion of 

stem ........................... . texense. 

Auxiliary bundles numerous, thin, 

naked. Parenchyma with prominent 

interceliular spaces ........... . lacunosum. 

Without auxiliary sclerenchyma bundles: ' 

Sclerenchyma portion oi fibrovascular 

·bundles sagittate or almost surrounding 

the reduced .vascular portion .. ~cellulosum. 

Vascular portion orbicular or ovate, not 

in an embayment of the sclerenchyma 

portion; where the latter joins the former it is flattened (complanate) . . remotum. 

Groundmass without intercellular spaces .. mieroxylon. 

Corypha-like stems. 

Group SAGITTATA. 

Palmoxylon microxylon (Corda) Stenzel. 

Palmacites mieroxylon. Corda, Beitrage zur Flora der 

Vorwelt, p. 48, pl. 21, 1845. 

Fasciculites Cottf£. Unger, Genera et species plantarum 

fossilium, p. 335, 1850. 

Fasciculites didymosolen. Stenzel, De trunco palmarum 

fossilium (Inaug. diss.), p. 8, 1850. 

Palmoxylon Quenstedti. Felix, Die fossile Holzer Westindiens, p. 25, pl. 4, fig. 4, 1883.' 

Palmoxylon Quenstedti. Knowlton, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., 

vol. 11,• p. 90, pl. 30, fig. 1, 1888. 

Palmoxylon mieroxylon. Stenzel, Fossile Palmenholzer, 

p. 68 (174), pl. 15 (17), figs. 160, 168, 1904. 

Fibrovasoular bundles thick, numerous, 

closely spaced, irregular in outline · in transverse sections, 0.5 to 1 millimeter in diameter; 

the sclerenchyma portion strongly developed, 
FLORA OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 235 

consisting of exceedingly thick walled cells, 

often nearly and sometimes entirely surrounding the vascular portion, which consists of a 

few large or several small vessels; the phloem 

and xylem parenchyma often poorly preserved. 

The vascular portion generally occupies a usually angular and often narrow indentation in 

the basal portion· of the handle. Bundles 

somewhat less numerous in central part of 

stem. Auxiliary sclerenchymatous bundles numerous, relatively stout, 0.16 to 0.08 millimeter 

in diameter, not surrounded by a ring of small, 

longitudinally elongated parenchymatous cells. 

Groundmass without well-defined intercellular 

spaces; made up of rather small, thin-walled, 

usually longitudinally elongated, occasionally 

isodiametric and parenchymatous polyhedral 

cells; those in close proximity to bundles 

radially widened. 

This species has been fully discussed by 

Stenzel. It was described as early as 1845 by 

Cordafrommaterialfoundin the Oligocene of the 

island of Antigua and was collected in 1885 by 

L. C. Johnson in Rapides Parish, La., the exact 

locality being unrecorded. It has not been 

found in this region by the more recent collectors. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Rapides 

Parish, La. 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Palmoxylon cellulosum Knowlton. 

Palmoxylon cellulosum. Knowlton, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., 

vol. 11, p. 90, pl. 30, fig. 2, 1888. 

Palmoxylon cellulosum. Felix, Fossile Holzer von Tlacolula, p. 3 (46), pl. 3, figs. 1-3, 1893. 

Palmoxylon cellulosum. Stenzel, Fossile Palmenholzer, 

p. 72 (178), pl. 15 (17), figs. 169-171; pl. 16 (18), figs. 

172-184, 1904. 

Fibrovascular bundles large, elliptical in 

transverse section, about 1 millimeter in diameter; sclerenchyma portion nearly surrounding 

the vascular portion. Groundmass of large 

irregular parenchymatous cells, with large intercellular spaces; somewhat more compact in 

the immediate vicinity of the bundles. The 

fibrovascular bundles are more numerous in the 

peripheral than in the central part of the stem, 

but much less crowded than in Palmoxylon 

microxylon. The ground tissue greatly resembles that of P. lacunosum but lacks the auxiliary sclerenchyma bundles of that species. 

Palmoxyloncellulosum, as described by Knowlton, came from Rapides Parish, La. Subse308300-17--16 

quently it was recorded from the State of 

Oaxaca, Mexico, by Felix, who supposed the 

strata containing it to be Cretaceous. Either 

the age determination of the Mexican strata 

was erroneous or the two occurrences can not 

represent the same species. Additional material of this species has beencollectedfromBayou 

Pierre in Mississippi. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Rapides 

Parish, La.; Bayou Pierre, Claiborne-Copiah 

eounty line, Miss. 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Group COMPLANATA. 

Palmoxylon texense Stenzel. 

Plate LVI. 

Palmoxywn texense. Stenzel, Fossile Palmenholzer, p. 79 

(185), pl. 6 (8), figs. 61-63, 1894. 

Stenzel correlated two speeimens from Texas 

with this species, regarding one as a peripheral 

part of a stem and the other as a more central 

portion. These he describes as follows: 

The ground tissue in both is formed from thin-walled 

cells; the exterior is dense or at least without well-defined 

intercellular spaces. The sclerenchyma portion of the 

longitudinal bundle is surrounded with two or three layers 

of rather small elongated cells, arranged with their major 

axes parallel, followed by larger elongated cells which are 

radially disposed with their short sides toward the fibrous 

tissue. In the woody fiber, on the contrary, the cells are 

almost uniformly polygonal; only in isolated areas do any 

number of even slightly elongated cells occur. The fundamental tissue from the central part of the stem is, on the 

other hand, porous, with numerous intercellular spaces. 

Pressed close against the sclerenchyma portion, as in the 

outer bundles, are well-developed elongated cells which 

radiate from the woody part, and outside of these are several layers of similar cells connected with each other, which 

often exhibit a symmetrical orientation toward the middle 

of the stem. 

The outer longitudinal fibrovascular bundles run straight 

upward; they are placed near one. another-in fact, whole 

series lie so close that they are almost in contact, and 45 or 

50 are crowded into a single square centimeter. Within 

they even lie on top of one another, but toward the middle 

of the stem they are separated by interspaces two or three 

times their own thickness, so that only a dozen fibrovascular 

bundles occur in the same space; and yet almost all the 

longitudinal bundles, like the small transverse bundles, 

direct their sclerenchyma portion, sometimes horizontally, 

sometimes a little obliquely, toward the exterior, so that 

we must take it for granted that we have before us, in addition, a part of the intermediate layer. It is very remarkable that among the outer longitudinal bundles only a small 

fraction are unsymmetrically arranged. 

The longitudinal bundles are obviously binary. The 

roundish sclerenchyma portion, of very thick walled cells, 

is somewhat flattened toward the inside, even squeezed 
236 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

Palmacites axonensis. Watelet, Plantes fossiles du bassin 

de Paris, p. 103, pl. 30, fig. 3, 1866. (From Quiricyvery thin, but laterally it is rounded. At this point the 

smaller vascular portion is generally attached; this is 

usually elongated near the outer bundles and frequently 

produced behind so that it appears almost triangular in · 

outline, while within it is rounded to form a semicircle in 

cross section. It bears two discrete vascular bundles 

either one of which may be r~placed by two othe:r;s, similar 

sous-le Mont, in the valley of the Aisne.) 

The species is close to Palmoxylon texense and 

also to P. antiguense. The original locality is 

unknown, although the species is often referred 

to the island of Antigua, as by Schenk. My 

Catahoula material is abundant, but not especially well preserved. Very well preserved 

material occurs in the Vicksburg at Nero, Ala. 

in character, situated near at hand. 

The transverse bundles, in which the breadth of the 

fibrous portion is equal to or less than the breadth of the 

longitudinal bundles, have a simple yet narrower, more 

produced woody portion. 

The few auxiliary sclerenchyma bundles are of not 

more than medium thickness. They are uniformly distributed, thin, and without encircling cells. 

Stenzel does not give the exact locality in 

Texas where his material was collected, but it is 

not unlikely to have come from the same area 

in Jasper County as my material. Unstudied 

material indicates the probable presence of this 

species at several localities in the Catahoula 

sandstone of Texas and in the Vicksburg limestone of Alabama. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, 5 miles 

north of Jasper, Jasper County, Tex. 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Palmoxylon lacunosum (Unger) Felix. 

Plate LVII, figure 1; Plate LVIII. 

Fasciculites lacunosus. Unger, in Martius, 'Genera; et 

species palmarum, vol. 1, p. 58, sec. 16, tab. geol. 1, 

fig. 1; 2, fig. 8; 3, :fig. 1, 1845; Synopsis plantarum 

fossilium, p. 186, 1845; Chloris protogrea, p. 71, 1845; 

Genera et species plantarum fossilium, p. 335, 1850. 

Palmoxylon lacunosum. Felix, Die fossile Holzer Westindiens, p. 23, pl. 5, fig. 3, 1883. [1882 name is referred 

by Stenzel toP. anomalum (Unger).] 

Palmoxylon lacunosum. Stenzel, Fossile Palmenholzer, 

p. 81 (187), pl. 8 (6), figs. 64-66, 1904. 

Palmoxylon lacunosum. Schenk, in Zittel, Handbuch der 

Palaeontologie, Abth. 2, Palaeophytologie, p. 889, 

:fig. 430, 1890. 

. Fibrovascular bundles not crowded, especially in interior of stem; sclerenchyma portion 

ovate or reniform in transverse section. Vascular portion orbicular. Auxiliary sclerenchyma, bundles numerous, thin, without modified encircling cells. Groundmass with intercellular spaces, which are not greatly developed 

in the peripheral part of the stem. 

Stenzel refers the following forms to this 

species: 

Fasciculites anomalus. Unger, in Martius, op. cit., p. 57, 

pl. 2, fig. 9; pl. 3, fig. 2, 1845. (This reference, if correct, would, according to the law of priority, involve 

a change in the name of this well-known form.) 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Texas & 

Pacific Railway, 1 mile east of Galbraith, 

northwest border of Rapides Parish, La.; south 

bank of creek just north of Pollock, Grant 

Parish, La. 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Palmoxylon remotum Stenzel. 

Plate LVII, figures 2-5. 

Palmoxylon remotum. Stenzel, Fossile Palmenholzer, p. 

91 (197), pl. 7 (9), figs. 79-81; pl. 8 (10), fig. 82; pl. 

9 (11), figs. 83~85, 1904. 

Fibrovascular bundles thl.ck, 1 millimeter in 

diameter, rather widely spaced; sclerenchyma 

portion elliptical to reniform in transverse 

section, flattened where it joins the orbicular 

rela.,tively large vascular portion, which consists of a few large vessels and several small 

ones. Auxiliary sclerenchyma bundles wanting. Groundmass of elongated cells with intercellular spaces, except in the immediate vicinity 

of the fibrovascular bundles, where they are 

closer and radiately arranged. 

This species i~ · readily distinguished from 

associated forms by the large size and remoteness of the fibrovascular bundles, coupled with 

the absence of auxiliary bundles. It was 

described by Stenzel from specimens collected 

near Washington, Adams County, Miss. I discovered a fragment over 30 centimeters in diameter and 75 centimeters in length in the possession of a native of Waynesboro, in the eastern part of Mississippi. It was collected from 

the surface of the ground about 5 miles north 

of Waynesboro, in a depression of the Vicksburg limestone and is now in the collection of 

the Geological Survey of Mississippi. Dr. E. 

N. Lowe, the State geologist, kindly forwarded 

fragments to me for study. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Washington, Adams County, Miss.; 5 miles north of 

Waynesboro, Wayne County, Miss. 
FLORA OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 237 

Collections: United States National Museum, margins more angular, and it is often more restricted on 

Mississippi Geological Survey, Gustav Stenzel one side than on the other. In only a few is the margin 

in Breslau. · obtuse or even somewhat rounded. In that case the 

Cocos-like stems. ordinary lunar outline is not wholly obscured. The cells 

of the sclerenchyma portion are uniform and polygonal, 

Group LUNARIA. with thickened walls, leaving, however, a moderately 

Palmoxylon mississippense Stenzel. large lumen. 

Palmoxylon mississippense. Stenzel, Fossile Palmenholzer, p. 142 (248), pl. 21 (23), figs. 254-265, 1904. 

I have not seen any specimens of this species, 

and the following is a free translation of some 

of Stenzel's comments on it: 

The curved and irregular course of the longitudinal 

bundles, as well as the change in relative position of 

sclerenchyma and vascular portions, the relatively large 

size of the vascular portion, which equals that of the 

sclerenchyma portion, and the slight disparity between 

the size of the transverse and that of the longitudinal 

bundles all give evidence of the fact that the specimen is 

from the central part of a stem. 

The groundmass consists of thin-walled, closely locked 

cells which are small and elongated only in proximity to 

the fibrovascular bundles and in the narrow interspaces 

between two adjacent bundles; elsewhere they are 

polygonal and reach 0.04 millimeter in width. 

The longitudinal bundles are uniformly distributed and 

are separated from each other by interspaces approximately equal to their semidiameter, though occasionally 

they stand farther apart. At the same time they are so 

small, with a maximum diameter of scarcely 1 to 2 millimeters, that as many as 300 have been found in 1 square 

centimeter. 

Because of the very different directions in which they 

are turned, more than one-half lie within a quarter circle, 

so that these can be looked upon as directed toward the 

exterior; the directions of the cross and of the transverse 

bundles are, however, very diverse, and the course of 

the bundles is bent now this way and now that, so that 

the most plausible theory still seems to be that we have 

before us a part of the central portion of the stem. This 

would also accord with the assumption that this belongs 

to a Cocos-like form. 

The outline of the longitudinal bundle is somewhat 

distorted in the figures, and the oval as well as the cross 

and the various oblique sections of the same bear witness 

to the weathering of the fossil, as does also the frequent 

pitting of the veins and even more strongly the discrepant 

stratification of the bundles. Then, too, we find that the 

vascular portions of the bundles, which are ordinarily 

pressed flat against the sclerenchyma portions, have been 

warped to one side just as we have seen them elsewhere. 

These same causes account for the polymorphism of the 

sclerenchyma portion in the groundmass, in which we 

find as a prevailing peculiarity that the outer boundary 

is a semicircle, while within it borders upon the vascular 

bundle with an almost horizontal contact line excepting 

for a flattened contraction near the middle. In many 

bundles this contraction is more sharply defined, its 

This species is very similar to Palmoxylon 

palmacites (Sprengel) Stenzel, 1 which occurs in 

the Oligocene of Antigua and of the Canal Zone. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Washington, Adams County, Miss. 

Collection: Gustav Stenzel in Breslau. 

Group RENIFORMIA. 

Palmoxylon ovatum Stenzel. 

Palmoxylon ovatum. Stenzel, Fossile Palmenholzer, p. 

119 (225), pl. 14 (16), figs. 152-158, pl. 15 (17), fig. 159, 

1904. 

This species, like Palmoxylon mississippense, 

is unrepresented outside of Prof. Stenzel's collection. It may be briefly described as follows: 

Fibrovascular bundles thick, closely and 

somewhat irregularly spaced; sclerenchyma 

portion orbicular, ovate or elliptical in transverse section, truncated or with a shallow 

indentation where it joins the vascular portion, which is well developed and often as large 

as the sclerenchyma portion; rhomboidal in 

transverse outline. Auxiliary bundles not 

abundant, without modified encircling cells. 

Groundmass without intercellular spaces. A 

distinguishing feature of this species is the 

occurrence in transverse sections of tiny scattered dark spots resembling the smaller auxiliary sclerenchyma bundles of Palmoxylon 

lacunosum. They show no structure and often 

lie in juxtaposition with the fibrovascular or 

auxiliary bundles. 

Stenzel compares the structure of this form 

with that of existing forms of Mauritia and 

Geonoma. Among fossil species it is said to 

be most similar to Palmoxylon cottci (Unger) 

Felix, a species occurring in the Oligocene of 

the West Indies and Italy and in the upper 

Eocene or lower Oligocene of Egypt (Libya). 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Washington, Adams County, Miss. 

Collection: Gustav Stenzel in Breslau. 

1 Stenzel, Gustav, Fossile PalmenhOlzer, p. 245, pl. 20, fig. 253, 1904. 
238 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

Subclass DICOTYLEDONlE. 

Order URTICALES. 

Family MORACElE. 

Genus FICUS Linne. 

Ficus sp. 

maximum width about 3.5 millimeters. Proximal spur about 1.5 1nillimeters long. Wing 

about 7 millimeters wide and 6 millimeters 

long. 

This distinctive winged seed is represented 

by the single specimen figured, from which the 

accompanying enlarged drawing has been 

Plate LV, figure 9· made. Rather similar winged seeds occur in 

The remains of a single fruit of some species a number of existing families. The scars on 

of Ficus is contained in the collections from the specimen show that several seeds were 

the argillaceous sandstones of the Chalk Hills, formed in a dry fruit-that is, a capsule-and 

La. It may be characterized as follows: the presence of wings indicates that it was 

Fruit obovate in lateral view, circular in cross dehiscent. This serves to distinguish the 

section, with a rounded apex, tapering down- · fossilfrom the samaras of the family Malpighiaward to the short and thick peduncle. Length cere, which somewhat resemble it, particularly 

about 2.5 centimeters; maximum diameter in some modern forms of the genus Banisteria. 

the upper part, about 1.5 centimeters. Pedun- Several existing forms of B<_>mbacacere and 

cle about 4 millimeters in length. Outer sur- Sterculiacere also show resemblances. Someface rough with irregular longitudinal ridges. what similar seeds with very much abbreviated 

Texture somewhat leathery. wings have been referred by Heer and others 

This fruit clearly represents a small, semi- to the genus Pterospermites of the family 

fleshy fruit of some species of fig, as yet un- Sterculiacere. 

represented by foliage, which flourished on The genus Embothrium Forster, which sugthe Vicksburg · strand. It is closely compar- gested the name for the fossil genus to Unger, 

able with the fruits of many existing species of comprises but few existing species of the South 

figs and is not unlike several fossil fruits which American Andean region, ranging from Peru 

have been described. As the majority of to the Straits of Magellan, and one or two 

fossil species are based on foliage, which is species of the mountains of tropical · Western 

exceedingly abundant in Tertiary floras every- Australia. About a dozen fossil species from 

where, I have not ventured to give the present the European area, ranging from the upper 

form a specific name. Oligocene through the Miocene, have been 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk referred to the living genus. Nine or ten fossil 

Hills 2 miles south of Rosefield, La. species have been referred to Embothrites. 

Collection: New York Botanical Garden. These are slightly older than the species reOrder PROTEALES. 

Family PROTEACElE. 

Genus EMBOTHRITES Unger. 

Ernbothrites ungeri Berry, n. sp. 

Plate LV, figures 11, 12. 

Seed unsymmetrical, roughly tri_angular in 

outline, somewhat flattened, produced into a 

conical point at the chalazal end, rounded 

distad and at the inner angle, where an elliptical hollow represents a depression made by 

pressure of the adjacent seed. Fruit evidently 

capsular, as indicated by the contour of the 

seed, which shows that the capsule contained 

several closely packed seeds. Seeds winged. 

Wing rather firm, broad, abruptly rounded, 

with about 20 thin subparallel longitudinal 

vems. Length of seed about 7 millimeters; 

ferred to Embothrium, ranging from the 

Ligurian or Sannoisian (basal Oligocene) 

through the Oligocene into the Aquitanian, 

which by a number of recent students is made 

the basal part of the Miocene. All these 

species are from the European continent, where 

leaves and seeds are common, no authentic 

representative having heretofore been discovered in North America, although Hollick ~ has 

described a Cretaceous leaf under the generic 

term Embothriopsis, and Lesquereux 2 many 

years ago described a leaf from the Dakota 

sandstone of Kansas as Embothrium? daphneoides. Neither of these forms is very convincing evidence of the existence of the ances1 Hollick, Arthur, Additions to the paleobotany of the Cretaceous 

formation on Long Island: New York Bot. Gard. Bull., vol. 8, p . 159, 

pl. 165, fig. 1, 1912. 

2 Lesquereux, Leo, Contributions to the fossil flora of the Western 

Territories, pt. 1, The Cretaceous flora, p. 87, pl. 30, fig. 10, 1874. 
FLORA OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 239 

tors of Embothrium in the Upper Cretaceous 

flora of North America. 

There are three species of seeds from the 

European Tertiary which especially resemble 

the present seed. These are Embothrites aquensis Saporta,t from the Sannoisian of southeastern France; Embothrites boreale Unger) 2 the type 

of the genus, an Aquitanian form of Croatia, 

Styria, and especially Greece,3 and Embothrites 

leptospermos Ettingshausen/ which ranges from 

the Sannoisian lignites of Tyrol to the Aquitanian brown coal of Styria. The last is by far the 

closest to the American species and is well figured in basal Oligocene material from TyroP 

The present species, which differs from all previously described forms in the extent to which 

the proximal spur is developed, is named in 

honor of Franz Unger, who first described the 

genus. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk 

Hills, 2 miles south of Rosefield, La. 

Collection: New York Botanical Garden. 

Order RANALES. 

Family ANONACElE. 

Genus ANONA Linne. 

Anona texana Berry, n. sp. 

Plate LX, figure 9. 

Leaves of large size, broadly ovate in general outline, with a pointed apex and a rounded 

base. Length about 15 or 16 centimeters; 

maximum width about 5.25 centimeters in the 

lower half of the leaf. From the region of 

maximum width the leaf narrows upward, but 

the tip is not extended. Margins entire, 

slightly undulate. Texture presumably coriaceous, but as these leaves are preserved as impressions in sandstone this is not certain. 

Petiole short and stout. Midrib stout, prominent on the lower surface of the leaf. Secondaries of considerable size but relatively thin, 

8 to 10 pairs, irregularly spaced and usually remote; they diverge from the midrib at 

varying angles from 60° to 70° and are either 

regularly curved or relatively straight, camptoI Saporta, Gaston de, op. cit. (Etudes, etc.), vol. 1, p . 107, pl. 8, fig. 8, 

1863. 

2 Unger, F. J., Die fossile Flora von Sotzka, p. 41, pl. 21, figs. 10-12, 

1859. 

s Unger, F. J., Die fossile Flora von ICumi, p. 37, pl. 9, fig. 23, 1867, 

4 Ettingshausen, Constantin, Die Proteaceen der Vorwelt, p. 19, 

pl. 2, figs. 12, 13, 1851. 

s Ettingshausen, Constantin, Die tertiare Flora von Haring in Tirol, 

p. 51, pl. 14, figs. 15-25, 1853. 

drome in the marginal region. A few transversely percurrent tertiaries are visible, but the 

bulk of the tertiary venation is obsolete. This 

is a well-marked species of Anona, somewhat 

resembling but entirely distinct from the various Anona leaves so common in the upper part 

of the middle Wilcox. It is also very similar 

to several existing species which are common 

in the American Tropics. 

Occurrence: Fayette sandstone, three-quarters of a mile above the junction of Caney and 

White Rock creeks, Trinity County, Tex. 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Order ROSALES. 

Family MIMOSACElE. 

Genus PITHECOLOBIUM Martius. 

Pithecolobium oligocrenum Berry, n. sp. 

Plate LV, figure 10. 

L2aves pinnate, with several pairs of opposite leaflets. Leaflets asymmetric-ovate in 

outline; widest in the middle part, where the 

lateral margins are full and rounded; narrowing rapidly both distad · and proximad to form 

the equally pointed apex and base; the ultimate point of the former not acuminate but 

bluntly rounded. Length about 2.6 centimeters; maximum width about 1.7 centimeters. 

Margins entire. Texture subcoriaceous. Petiolule sho-rt and stout, about 2 millimeters in 

length. Midrib stout, curved, prominent on 

the lower surface of the leaflet. Secondaries 

stout, about five or six subopposite to alternate 

pairs, diverging from the midrib at angles of 

about 50°, curving upward, camptodrome in the 

marginal region, prominent on the lower surface of the leaflet. Tertiaries thin but well 

marked in the specimens, the meshes being 

exactly comparable with those of existing · 

species of Pitheoolobium with which they have 

been compared. 

The genus Pithecolobium, which is more or 

less closely related to the genus Inga of Willdenow, has over 100 existing species, all confined 

to the Torrid Zone and many of them large 

trees. Three-fourths of the existing species 

occur in the American Tropics, but there are 

over a score in the Asiatic ';['ropics, and a few 

in the African and Australian Tropics. Up to 

the time of the present studies the genus had 

not been recognized in the fossil state. There 

are two well-marked species in the Wilcox 
240 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS 1'0 GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916; 

flora of Mississippi and northern Tennessee, and 

the present species forms a link between these 

Wilcox species and the trees of the present-day 

American Tropics that have very similar leaves. 

The species is not abundant in the rather 

small collections from this horizon. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk 

Hills, 2 miles south of Rosefield, La. 

Collection: New York Botanical Garden. 

Order GERANIALES. 

Family RUTACElE. 

Genus FAGARA Linne. 

The genus Fagara consists of numerous existing species of shrubs and trees, over 150 being 

known. They are cosmopolitan in tropical and 

subtropicai countries and a few range into the 

Temperate Zone, especially in southeastern 

North America, where they have been confused 

with the closely allied genus Xanthoxylum 

Linne. Fossil forms based on foliage are usuallyreferred toXanthoxylum, and these number 

about 20 species, all of Tertiary age, mostly 

from the European Oligocene. The leaves in 

the two genera are much alike, the main distinction being the absence of a calyx in 

Xanthoxylum. This would indicate that Xanthoxylum is derived from Fagara by reduction 

of floral parts and by adaptation to cooler climates. I have elsewhere expressed the opinion 

that this evolution had not occurred in Eocene 

time, and I have described several species of 

Figara from the Upper Cretaceous and lower 

and middle Eocene of the Mississippi embayment. These species appear to be ancestral to 

the numerous representatives of this genus 

found in the lower Oligocene of Louisiana. 

The more argillaceous lenses in this lower 

part of the Vicksburg limestone in central 

Louisiana are crowded with leaflets of the 

Fagara type, suggesting the lagoons of southern 

Florida, where calc.areous muds are accumulating and in the vicinity of which species of 

Fagara are among the commonest of coastal 

plants, as they are also throughout the Antilles 

and in Central America and northern South 

America. 

The Oligocene material is diverse and might 

be differentiated Into a score of species or 

described as one species according to the men tal 

attitude of the student. After much study I 

have differentiated four forms as varieties of a 

central type for which the name Fagara catahoulensis is proposed. They are differentiated 

by characters which appear to be constant, 

notwithstanding the fact that all are represented by numerous specimens. They are 

all more or less inequilateral glandular punctate 

leaves, with grooved petiolules and a tendency 

toward revolute margins-all characters suggesting the Rutaceoo and distinguishing them 

from various genera of the Rhamnaceoo with 

which they might otherwise be compared. 

Their punctate character is well shown in some 

of the photographs reproduced in the present 

work. 

Key to American Oligocene forms of Fagara. 

Leaflets orbicular or elliptical. Secondaries few, five 

pairs or less .............. Fagara catahoulensis orbiculata. 

Leaflets ovate or ovate-lanceolate: 

Twice as long as wide, broadest midway between apex 

and base. Secondaries numerous, more than five · 

pairs ............... . Fagara catahoulensis elongata. 

Less than twice as long as wide: 

Secondaries few, five pairs or less, 

Fagara catahoulensis coriacea. 

Secondaries numerous, more than five pairs, 

Faga catahoulensis major. 

Fagara catahoulensis orbiculata Berry, n. var. 

Plate LIX, figures 1-3. 

Leafl~ts glandular punctate, of medium size 

for this genus, orbicular or elliptical in general 

outline, equally rounded at the apex and base. 

Length from 2.5 to 4 centimeters; maximum 

width, midway between the apex and the base, 

from 1.8 to 3.3 centimeters. Margins entire. 

Texture coriaceous. Petiolule short, stout, 

grooved, curved, about 3 millimeters in length. 

Midrib stout, curved or flexuous, prominent on 

the lower surface of the leaflet. Secondaries 

stout, prominent on the lower surface of the 

leaflet, four or five subopposite to alternate 

pairs, diverging from the midrib at angles 

ranging from 65° in the lower part of the orbicular leaflets to 35° in the upper part of some 

of the orbicular leaflets and in the elliptical 

leaflets; all camptodrome, usually at a considerable distance from the margin. Tertiaries 

thin but well marked, especially on the lower 

surface of the leaflets, forrnjng open irregular 

meshes that are well shown in the small elliptical leaflet figured. Areolation of thin but 

distinct veinlets forming minute quadrangular 

or polygonal meshes. 
FLORA OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 241 

This form shows considerable variation from 

the typical orbicular leaflet figured, through the 

large leaflet in which the apex is somewhat ascending, toward Fagara catahoulensis major, 

and on the other hand the elliptical forms like 

the one figured approach Fagara catahoulensis 

elongata. These variants of orbiculata differ 

from both of these other forms in the fewer and 

more open secondaries and in their general outline, as is readily seen in the photographic reproductions of some of the specimens. · They 

are much less common than any of the associated forms of Fagara. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk 

Hills, 2 miles south of Rosefield, La.; Fayette 

sandstone, Stryker, Tex. 

Collections: United States National Museum, 

New York Botanical Garden. 

Fagara catahoulensis coriacea Berry, n. var. 

Plate LIX, figures 8-10. 

Leaflets glandular punctate, of small size, 

ovate-lanceolate, and slightly inequilateral in 

general outline, with a bluntly pointed apex 

and a broadly rounded base. Length from 

1.75 to 2.75 centimeters, averaging about 2 

centimeters; maximum width, below the middle of the leaflet, from 1.2 to 2 centimeters, 

averaging about 1.4 centimeters. Margins entire, slightly revolute in some specimens. 

Texture coriaceous. Petiolule very stout, 

grooved, curved, 3.5 millimeters in length. 

Midrib stout and curved, prominent on the 

lower surface of the leaflet. Secondaries stout 

and prominent, four or five mostly subopposite 

pairs; they diverge from the midrib at somewhat irregular intervals at angles ranging from 

35° to 60°, and pursue a straight course halfway 

to the margins where they curve upward; 

camptodrome in the marginal region. Tertiaries immersed in the leaf substance. 

This well-marked form is less abundant in 

the collections than elongata or major but more 

abundant than orbiculata. It is much like 

major in general outline but is broader nearer 

the base, has fewer secondaries, and averages 

much smaller in size. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk 

Hills, 2 miles south of Rosefield, La. 

Collection: New York Botanical Garden. 

Fagara catahoulensis major Berry, n. var. 

Plate LIX, figures 4-7. 

Leaflets glandular punctate, averaging of 

relatively large size, ovate-lanceolate and 

slightly inequilateral in outline, with an acutely 

pointed apex and a rounded or broadly pointed 

base. Length from 2.2 to 4.5 centimeters, 

averaging about 3.f) centimeters; maximum 

width, at or slightly below the middle, from 1.5 

to 2.75 centimeters, averaging about 2.5 centimeters. Margins entire. Texture coriaceous. 

Petiolule stout, grooved, about 4.5 millimeters 

in length, in sonie specimens showing evidence 

of narrow, straight lateral wings. Midrib 

stout, prominent on the lower surface of the 

leaflet. Secondaries stout and prominent, 

about six pairs, subopposite below and usually 

alternate above; they diverge from the midrib 

at angles of about 45°, although there is considerable variation in this feature; they are for 

the most part regularly curved upward and 

subparallel and are camptodrome in the mar~ 

ginal region. Tertiaries mostly immersed in 

the leaf substance; a few percurrent ones 

visible. 

This is the most common as well as the largest form in the collection and is represented by 

abundant material. It approaches elongata on 

the one hand and coriacea, as well as some of the 

more elongated forms of orbiculata, on the 

other. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk 

Hills, 2 miles south of Rosefield, La. 

Collections: United States National Museum, 

New York Botanical Garden. 

Fagara catahoulensis elongata Berry, n. var. 

Plate LIX, figures 11-15. 

Leaflets glandular punctate, averaging of 

rather small size, narrowly ovate and inequilateral in general outline, nearly equally 

pointed at the apex and base, the apex sometimes slightly more pointed than the base. 

Length from 1.6 to 4.25 centimeters, averaging 

about 2.75 centimeters; maximum width, midway between the apex and the base, from 1 to 

2 centimeters, averaging about 1.4 centimeters. 

Margins entire, slightly revolute. Texture 

oonaceous. Petiolule stout, grooved, curved, 
242 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY~ 1916. 

enlarged proximad, 3 to 4 millimeters in length. 

Midrib stout, usually curved, prominent on the 

lower surface of the leaflet. Secondaries stout, 

six or seven subopposite to alternate pairs, diverging from the midrib at angles of about 40°, 

subparallel, oamptodrome in the marginal region. Tertiaries immersed in the leaf substance. 

This form is more abundant than the varieties orbiculata and coriacea, but not as abundant 

as Fagara catahoulensis major. It resembles 

some of the forms of orbiculata as well as some 

of the variants of major but differs from both of 

these in its proportions. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk 

Hills, 2 miles south of Rosefield, La.; Fayette 

sandstone, Stryker, Tex. 

Collections: United States National Museum, 

New York Botanical Garden. 

Order RHAMNALES. 

Family RHAMNACElE. 

Genus PALIURUS Jussieu. 

Paliurus catahoulensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate LX, figures 1-4. 

Leaves of small size, ovate to oblong-lanoeolate in general outline, with a narrowed and 

acutely or bluntly pointed tip and a broadly 

rounded, somewhat inequilateral base. Length 

from 2.5 to 5 centimeters, averaging about 3 

centimeters; maximum width, in the lower half 

of the leaf, from 7 millimeters to 2 centimeters. 

Margins entire. Leaf substance thin but apparently of considerable consistency. Petiole 

short, stout, and curved, about 2 millimeters in 

length. Midrib slender, somewhat flexuous. 

Lateral primaries thin, one on each side, diverging from the top of the petiole and forming an 

angle of 35 ° with the midrib, curving upward 

parallel with the lateral leaf margin and becoming parallel with the midrib, extending above 

the middle of the leaf, terminating by joining a 

seeondary. Secondaries thin, three or four 

subopposite to alternate pairs in the upper half 

of the leaf, diverging from the midrib at angles 

of about 50°; curved regularly upward, camptodrome in the marginal region. Tertiaries forming open camptodrome arches from the outside 

of the lateral primaries in the marginal region; 

internally they are thin, numerous, transverse 

in direction, nearly straight or inosculating. 

This well-marked species has smaller leaves 

than the' majority of described fossil species, 

but it may be matched by several existing forms 

in this and the allied genus Zizyphus. 

In the existing flora Paliurus is represented 

by two species, one confined to China and Japan 

and the other extending westward into southern Europe. About 30 fossil species based on 

both leaves and the characteristic fruits are 

known, some of which extend back in time to 

the middle Cretaceous. Zizyphus, which in the 

absence of fruiting specimens is not distinguishable with certainty from Paliurus, has about 40 

existing species confined largely to the Indo-

}.1alayan Tropics, only a single species occurringin the American Tropics. It has numerous fossil speoies. Both genera are well represented in the Eocene floras of the Mississippi 

embayment. 

At the same locality and horizon which furnished the leaves a fragment of a slender flexuous thorned stem was collected. While I realize that this might belong to a variety of unallied genera, its character and association have 

led me to refer it tentatively to this species. It 

may be compared with the almost identical remains from the Sannoisian of Aix, in southeastern France, which Sa porta t referred to 

Paliurus tenuifolius Heer. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk 

Hills, 2 miles south of Rosefield, La. 

Collection: New York Botanical Garden. 

Order MYRTALES. 

Family MYRTACElE. 

Genus MYRCIA De Candolle. 

Myrcia catahoulensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate LX, figures 5, 6. 

Leaves of small size, linear-lanceolate, and 

often somewhat falcate in general outline, 

with a gradually narrowed and acuminate 

apex and a similarly pointed base. Length 

from 4.5 to 7 centimeters; maximum width, 

in the middle part of the leaf, 5 millimeters to 

1.1 centimeters. Margins entire. Texture coriaceous. Petiole missing. Midrib stout, somewhat prominent on the lower surface of the 

leaf. Secondaries thin, immersed in the substance of the leaf and seen only with difficulty, 

1 Saporta, Gaston de, op. cit. (Etudes, etc.), vol. 3, suppl. 1, p. 98~ 

pl. 16, figs. 12, 13, 1867. 
FLORA OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 243 

their tips joined by an aerodrome marginal vein 

on each side close to the margin and, like the 

secondaries, nearly obsolete by immersion in 

the leaf substance. 

This species is represented by several fragmentary specimens in the Chalk Hills collection, two of which, showing the extremes of 

size, are figured. The oldest beds in which 

the genus has been definitely recognized are 

those of the Wilcox group, but it is probably 

represented in Upper Cretaceous flora3 by 

some of the forms referred to the genus Eucalyptus. It is an abundant element in the Wilcox :flora, being represented by four described 

species, among which Myrcia bentonensis Berry, 

a form found along the shores of the Mississippi 

embayment from central Arkansas to northern 

Mississippi, is most like the present species. 

It is, however, always larger, usually much 

larger, and is more obtusely pointed. 

The genus Myrcia is the most varied existing 

American genus of the Myrtacem, having more 

than 400 tropical species, massed in northern 

South America, butextendingsouthward to Uruguay and Chile and northward through theW est 

Indies. The present fossil form may be compared with a number of still-existing American 

species, and it is evident that the genus was 

present in the flora of tropical and subtropical 

America from the dawn of the Eocene down to 

the present time, invariably extending its 

range northward over southeastern North 

America whenever the climatic conditions 

were favorable. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk 

Hills, 2 miles south of Rosefield, La. 

Collections: United States National Museum, 

New York Botanical Garden. 

Order EBENALES. 

Family SAPOTACElE. 

Genus BUMELIA Swartz. 

Bumelia vicksburgensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate LX, :figure 7. 

Leaves of small size, elliptical, almost 

orbicular in general outline, with an emarginate 

tip and a broadly rounded base. Length 

about 1.2 centimeters; maximum width, at a 

point about midway between the apex and 

the base, about 1 centimeter. Margins entire, 

inclined to be slightly revolute. Texture very 

coriaceous. Petiole wanting. Midrib stout, 

slightly curved. Secondaries thin, immersed 

in the leaf substance, four or five pairs, diverging from the midrib at wide angles and camptodrome in the marginal region. Tertiaries 

completely immersed. 

The present species is small for this genus 

and superficially resembles various leguminous 

leaflets such as those of the genera Dalbergia 

and Colutea. 

The genus Bumelia is confined to America in 

the existing :flora and comprises about 20 

species scattered from the southern United 

States through the West Indies and Central 

America to Brazil. Its geologic history ranges 

from the Upper Cretaceous to the present and 

although it is exclusively American in the 

Recent flora it is well represented in the 

European Tertiary. There are four wellmarked species in the flora of the Wilcox 

group, one of which, Bumelia pseudohorrida 

Berry, is very similar to the present species. 

Among recent species Bumelia horrida Grisebach, of the West Indies, is close to the present 

species, its c~ief difference being the possession 

of a petiole. 

Occurrence: Catahoula sandstone, Chalk Hills, 

2 miles south of Rosefield, La. 

Collection: New York Botanical Garden. 

Genus CARPOLITHUS Stokes and Webb. 

Carpolithus bumeliaformis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate LX, :figure 8. 

Fruit oblate-spheroidal, nearly globose, about 

7.5 millimeters in maximum diameter (length) 

and 5.75 millimeters in minimum diameter. 

Seed large, nearly globose, crustaceous; :flesh 

thin and dry. 

The present species is based on only a few 

specimens which agree remarkably well with 

the fallen fruits of those of our American 

species of Bumelia that have dry instead of 

:fleshy fruits. 

The genus Bumelia is a prominent ele~ent 

in the earlier Tertiary :floras of southeastern 

North America, the leaves of one species being 

associated with the present fruits. As the 

nature of the remains precludes certainty of 

identification I have referred these fruits to the 

convenient form genus Carpolithus and have 

emphasized their supposed botanic affinity in 

the specific name. 

Occurrence: Ca tahoula sandstone, Chalk Hills, 

2 miles south of Rosefield, La. 

Collection: New York Botanical Garden. 

PLATES LV-LX. 

245 
PLATE LV. 

Page. 

FIGURE 1.· Cupressites sudworthi Berry. Chalk Hills, La.................................................... 232 

2. Pestalozzites minor Be!ry. Chalk Hills, La. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 

3, 4. Lygodium mississippiensis Berry. Near King, Miss...... . ....................................... 231 

5-8. Acrostichum smithi Berry. Near King, Miss ............................... "..................... 231 

9. Ficus sp., remains of fruit. Chalk Hills, La.... . ............................................... 238 

10. Pithecolobium oligoccenum Berry. Chalk Hills, La............. . ................................ 239 

11, 12. Embothrites ungeri Berry. Chalk Hills, La. Figure 12 enlarged four times....................... 238 

All from Catahoula sandstone. 

246 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

1 

4 

10 

PROFESSIONAL PAPER 98 PLATE LV 

2 

5 

8 I 

11 

FOSSILS OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 

I 

I 

I 

I 

/ 

I 

3 

6 

9 
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 98 PLATE LVI 

1 

...___ __ 2 __ _j 

FOSSILS OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 
PLATE LVI. 

Page. 

FIGURES 1, 2. Palmoxylon texense Stenzel. Near Jasper, Tex. Figure 1, natural size; figure 2, transverse 

section, enlarged 10 times. From Catahoula sandstone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 

247 
PLATE LVII. 

Page. 

FIGURE 1. Palrrwxylon lacunosum (Unger) Felix. Near Pollock, La. Fibrovascular bundle; enlarged 50 

times ............... ......... ·. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 

2-5. Palmoxylon remotum Stenzel. Five miles north of Waynesboro, Miss. Showing variations .in 

bundles; enlarged .25 times ........................ .......... .......... ........ ~............ 236 

All from Catahoula sandstone. 

248 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 98 PLATE LVII 

1 

2 3 5 

FOSSILS OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 98 PLATE LVIII 

1 

2 

FOSSILS OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 
PLATE LVIII. 

Page. 

FIGURES l, 2. Palmoxylon lacunosum (Unger) Felix. Near Pollock, La. Figure l, auxiliary bundle; enlarged 50 times. Its sharp boundary is due to the manner in which the negative has been 

retouched and is not shown by the material. Figure 2, transverse section of primary bundle; 

enlarged 50 times. From Catahoula sandstone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 

249 
PLATE LIX. 

Page. 

FIGURES 1-3. Fagara catahoulensis orbiculata Berry._ ..... _ ............................................... _ 240 

4-7. Fagara catahoulensis major Berry ...... _ ................ . . ___ ._ ............................ __ 241 

8-10. Fagara catahoulensis coriacea Berry .. _. _ . _. ___ . _____________________ .. ________ ....... _ .. _ _ _ _ _ _ 241 

11-15. Fagara catahoulensis elongata Berry_ ......... ___________ . _______ . _ .... ___ . __ . . ........ __ ... _ 241 

All from Ca tahoula sandstone at Chalk Hills, La. 

250 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 98 PLATE LIX 

1 

3 

2 

5 

4 G 

7 

8 9 10 11 

12 13 14 

FOSSILS OF THE CATAHOULA SANDSTONE. 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

1 

\ 

\\J\·, .. \· I \ 

\ ' . \ 

I 

\ 

5 

7 

,.,, 

I I\ 

I '' I\ 

I \ 

I \ / \ 

I 

2 

6 

PROFESSIONAL PAPER 98 PLATE LX 

3 

4 

8 

FOSSILS OF THE CATAHOULA AND FAYETTE SANDSTONES. 
PLATE LX. 

Page. 

FrGURES 1-4. Paliurus catahoulensis Berry. _____________ .. ... ____ _________ ________ . _____________________ ._. 242 

5, 6. Myrcia catahoulensis Berry _____ __ _________ . _ ... __________________ ..... _. _____ . ... _____ .. ___ 242 

7. Bumelia vicksburgensis Berry ___________________________ . _______ ..................... _____ . . . 243 

8. Carpolithus bumeliajormis Berry __ _ ._. __ .... __ . _ . .. ......... _ ......... . . ... . _ . . ... .... _ . . . . . . 243 

Figures 1 to 8 from Catahoula sandstone, Chalk Hills, La. 

9. Anona texana Berry. Fayette sandstone of Trinity County, Tex .... .. ..... ... . _ .. _. .... . . ... 239 

30830°--17----17 251