THE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS AND AGE INDICATED BY THE FLORA 

OF TI-IE ALUM BLUFF FORMATION. 

By EDWARD WILBER BERRY. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The present paper has for its purpose the 

description of a small flora collected from the 

Alum Bluff formation, representing a horizon 

hitherto unrepresented paleobotanically in 

southeastern North America, and the discussion of the bearing of this flora on the physical 

conditions of deposition and the probable age 

of the dcposi ts. 

GEOLOGY OF THE DEPOSITS. 

The Alum Bluff formation was named from 

the bluff of that name on the east bank of the 

Apalachicola River, about 25 miles below Chattahoochee or River Junction, in Liberty County, 

Fla.t (See Pl. VII, B, p. 56.) It is, according 

to present knowledge, the uppermost formation 

of the Apalachicola group. It comprises three 

members, which, named in ascending order, are 

the Chipola marl member, the Oak Grove sand 

member, and the Shoal River marl member. 

The Chipola marl, which is a thin yellowish 

clay marl at the base of the formation as defined 

by Matson. and Clapp, carries a very extensive 

and well-preserved marine fauna. It was 

named from Chipola River, in Calhoun County, 

Fla. The Oak Grove sand, stratigraphically 

intermediate between the Chipola and Shoal 

River, is a thin, highly fossiliferous gray or 

greenish fine sand named from Oak Grove, on 

Yellow River, and not represented by a lithologic unit at Alum Bluff. The Shoal River 

marl, the highest known fossiliferous member 

1 The geology of this region is fully discussed in the following publications: 

Matson, G. C., and Clapp, F. G., A preliminary report on the geology of 

Florida: Florida Geol. Survey Second Ann. Rept., pp. 21-173, 1909. 

Vaughan, T. W., A contribution to the geologic history of the Floridian 

Plateau: Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 133, pp. 99-185, 1910; see also 

U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 71, pp. 741-745, 1912. 

of the formation, is a thin series of interbedded 

greenish sands and marls overlying the Oak 

Grove sand. It was named from Shoal River, 

in western Florida, and is not represented by a 

lithologic 'unit at Alum Bluff. 

The following section was taken at the point 

where the fossil plants were collected, near the 

lower end of the bluff and in the immediate 

vicinity of the section measured by Dall.2 It is 

deemed worthy of reproduction because it 

differs in certain particulars from Dall's section. Still other sections from different parts 

of the bluff are given by Sellards and Gunter.3 

Section at Alum Bluff, Fla. 

Pleistocene (?): Feet. 

Light-colored ferruginous, rather loose sands. 9 

Hard reddish clay ______ ... __ ... _ .. __ . _ . . . . . 2 

Variegated reddish and yellowish ferruginous 

sands ___ . __ . _ ... ___ .......... ___ . . . . . . . . 65 

Miocene: 

Choctawhatchfle marl: 

Dark-gray pyri tiferous clay, more or less carbonaceous but scarcely meriting the term llgnitic given to it by Langdon, as no lignite 

or plant fossils were observed in it. Traces 

of invertebrate fossils, for the most part undeterminable, were obs6lrved in places. 

The pyritiferous character of the clay gives 

it an alum-like taste, whichaccounts forthe 

name of the bluff. Approximate thickness. 25 

Bluish (when unweathered) fossiliferous clay 

marl of irregular thickness, carrying Mulinia congesta, Ecphora quadricostata, Turritella variabilis, and other species; much oxidized in its upper portion, in which the fossils are represented by poor casts, owing to 

the solution of the shell substance . . . . . . 15-30 

Erosion unconformity. 

2 Dall, W. H., and Stanley-Brown, J., Cenozoic geology aloug the 

Apalachicola River: Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 5, p. 157, 1894 3 Sellards, E. H., and Gunter, Herman, Florida Geol. Survey Second 

Ann. Rept., pp. 275, 276, 1909. 

41 
42 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

01igocene: 

Alum Bluff formation: Feet. 

Cross-bedded laminated sands with clay laminre and thin distorted clay lenses of small 

extent. The sands are locally thicker 

bedded and argillaceous, especially ln the 

upper part, where they are in places packed 

with the distorted detached rays of a Saballike palm. In the lower part they are more 

evenly bedded and less argillaceous, being 

composed"largely of a somewhat coarser gray 

iron-stained sand with vegetable matter 

aggregated in definite but not everywhere 

horizontal layers. Here and there are thin 

iron crusts, and some of the more argillaceous laminre are bluish in color. Leaf impressions are much more abundant and 

varied in these lower layers. The thickness is variable, the maximum observed 

being about. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 

Gray calcareous compact massive, in places 

slightly phosphatic sand, somewhat fos:.. 

silifero.us; thickness about................. l2 

Chipola marl member: Compact ferruginous, 

abundantly fossiliferous argillaceous sand 

carrying Orthaulax and other characteristic Oligocene i.nvertebrates; thickness 

exposed ................................. 3-4 

most Oligocene or basal Miocene flora, practically the only one known in North America. 

In Forrest County, Miss., in beds included 

by L. C. Johnson in the Hattiesburg clay (see 

Pl. vn, A, p. 56), I discovered in the sutnmer of 

1910 a small flora that appears to be synchronous with that at Alum Bluff . . The exact locality is on the south side of the New Orleans, 

Mobile & Chicago Railroad, 1 mile east of Raglan, and the outcrop shows the following section 

(see also fig. 8): 

SectiorJ- near Raglan, Miss. 

1. Compact reddish argillaceous sand ............. . 

2. Light sandy clay ............................. . 

3. Compact argillaceous lignite or brown lignitic 

clay ...................................... . 

Unconformi.ty (local?). 

4. Yellowish or gray argillaceous fine sand or sandy 

clay, grading into underlying beds ........... . 

5. Similar materials of greenish color, weathering 

yellowish, irregularly bedded and carrying 

large numbers of poorly preserved plant remains, mostly palm rays; grades into underlying beds; thickness about .................. . 

6. Yellowish or greenish much-jointed sandy clay .. 

Feet. 

Q-12 

1-2 

2 

10 

4 

6 

FIGURE 8.-Section of Hattiesburg clay near Raglan, Miss. Numbers correspond to those given in the section in the text. 

Alum Bluff is a most interesting spot to the -

physiographer, because of the striking contrast 

in topography between the east and west banks 

of the river; to the geologist, because it is a 

classic locality for the so-called Old Mi{)cene 

and represents also the oldest known southern 

outcrop of the Chesapeake Miocene; and to 

the botanist, because in the wooded and damp 

ravines along the bluff are to be found two 

isolated gymnosperms, both relics of bygone 

floras, Taxus floridana Nuttall and Tumion 

taxijolium (Arnott) Greene. Alum Bluff is of 

particular interest to the paleobotanist, because it furnishes a representation of an upperThe plants in the sands at both the localities 

mentioned above are few and very friable. 

Collections could not be made in the usual way, 

and as my improvised method proved very 

satisfactory it is worth describing. A small 

excavation in the loose, slumped sand was 

lined with a large piece of burlap. This was 

partly filled with plaster. _While the plaster 

was still soft the sandy specimen was placed 

in it, the face of the specimen being left about 

on the level of the plastoc. After the plaster 

had set the face was thickly covered with cotton, over which the free ends of the burlap 

were wrapped and tied firmly. Every speci. 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS AND AGE INDICATED BY FLORA OF ALUM BLUFF FORMATION. 43 

men treated in this way, some of which were 

10 inches in diameter, survived the rough 

handling on the river boat and the freight 

transportation to Baltimore. 

Fossil plants from Alum Bluff have been 

mentioned by Langdon, 1 Foerste,2 and Dall.3 

A few fragments of Sabalites were collected 

by Dall, but no systematic collections were 

made until I visited this outcrop in 1910 in 

company with E. H. Sellards, State geologist 

of Florida. 

CHARACTER OF THE FLORA. 

The flora is limited to 13 described species, 

although fragments of other species are present, 

and I observed but did not succeed in collecting 

a palmately veined Ficus, leaves of Gyminda 

or Xanthoxylum, and pods resembling those of 

the existing Gleditsia aquatica l\1arsh. 

The determined species comprise a spot fungus (Pestalozzites), a very abundant fan palm 

(Sabalites), and 11 species of dicotyledons, including an elm, breadfruit, buckthorn, carnphqr, satinwood, ironwood, and persimmon. 

There are 11 genera in 9 families and 8 orders. 

These families are the elm (Ulmacem), mulberry 

(Moracem), pisonia (N yctaginacem), senna 

(Cmsalpiniacem), rue (Rutacem), buckthorn 

(Rhamnacem), laurel (Lauracem), sapodilla 

(Sapotacem), and ebony (Ebenacem). The 

families Lauracem and Sapotacem are each represented by two species; the remaining seven 

families have each a single species. By far 

the most abundant form is the palm, broken 

stipes and detached rays of which are thickly 

crowded in the sands in places. Four of the 

plants are ordinarily considered strictly tropical-the breadfruit (Artocarpus), brasiletto 

(Cmsalpinia), N ectandra, and satinwood (Fagara). The genera Pisonia and Cinnamomum 

are commonly considered tropical, but Pisonia 

reaches the keys of southern Florida in the existing flora and the camphor tree (Cinnamomum) ranges northward to southern J·apan and 

to the rain forests of southwestern China, 

while Ginnamomum camphora Linne is hardy 

in cultivation around Tallahassee, Fla., and is 

1 Langdon, D. W., Some Florida Miocene: Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 

38, p. 322, 1889; Geology of the Coastal Plain of Alabama, p. 3i3, 1894, 

2 Foerste, A. F., Studies on the Chipola Miocene of Bainbridge, Ga .. 

and of Alum Bluff, Fla.: Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., voL 46, pp. 244-254, 1893; 

Fossil palmettos in Florida: Bot. Gaz., vol. 19, p. 3i, 1894. 

a Dall, \V. H ., and Stanley-Brown, Joseph, Cenozoic geology along the 

Apalachicola River: Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 5, pp. 147-170, 1894. 

30830°-17-4 

not uncommon as nn escape from cultivation 

in woods and thickets throughout peninsular 

Florida, being freel~y seeded by birds. In fact, 

soil, humidity, and the length of the growing 

season seem to govern the extension of the 

tropical flora into the temperate zones to a 

much greater extent than actual extreme temperatures, the existing floras of both southeastern Asia and southeastern North America 

showing many parallel examples of such extensions. 

The Sabalites is represented in the existing 

flora by the genus Sabal Adanson, which is now 

confined to America. It consists of eight 

coastal or stream-border shrubs and trees, five 

of which are confined to the West Indies, 

Mexico, and Venezuela; one is confined to 

peninsular Florida, and two range northward 

along the Atlantic eoast to the Carolinas. 

The large mass of frayed and tangled rays 

and stipes of Sabalites in a matrix of sandy 

alluvium both at Raglan, Miss., and Alum 

Bluff, Fla., suggest that at the time these deposits were laid down the shores were low and 

were densely clothed with palmetto "swamps" 

or brakes. 

The genus Ulmus, although it has tropical 

allies, is in the existing flora a strictly northtemperate form having about 16 widely distributed species. 

The fan1ily Rha1nnacem is mostly tropical, 

but several of the genera extend into the Temperate Zone, and Rhamnus, in particular, is 

mostly extra tropical in the North Temperate 

Zone. There are about 75 existing species, and 

of the dozen North American forms several 

range northward to Canada and British America 

and only 1 ranges ns far south as Florida. 

The genus Bumelia has about a score or 

more of existing species, ranging from Brazil 

northward through Central America and the 

West Indies to the United States, where two 

species are found a.s far north as Virginia and 

Illinois. 

The genus Diospyros belongs to a large 

family that is mostly tropical in its distribution. 

Of the more than 200 existing species our 

common Diospyros virginiana Linne is found 

as far north as southern New York and New 

England. The genus is represented in south-. 

ern Europe, and there are several species in 

eastern Asia. Moreover, of the 100 or more 
44 f;;HORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

fossil species that have been described many 

occur in associations that are obviously temperate in character. 

To summarize the climatic conditions indicated by the flora, they are those of a tropical 

flora becoming replaced by a temperate flora, 

namely, subtropical or very warm temperate. 

These conditions are obviously different from 

those indicated by the .Chipola marine fauna, 

which comprises over 400 lmown species, mostly 

Mollusca, and indicates a shallow sea (maximum 

depth not over 20 fathoms) and, according to 

Vaughan,1 strictly tropical temperatures-that 

is, the bottom temperature of the water did 

not go below 70° F. during the year. 

As has already been indicated, the flora embraces a number of tropical types which, as is 

shown by the existing flora, are legitimately to 

be expected to extend more or less beyond the 

equatorial belt in areas where rainfall is abundant and where extremes of low temperature 

are absent. Associated with these are forms 

likA liTmus, whose modern representatives are 

prevailingly north temperate but some of which 

extend into boreal regions. Still other of the 

Alum Bluff forms, the Rhamnus, Bumelia, and 

Diospyros, represent families which are mainly 

tropical in the existing flora but which as represented by these genera have extended over large 

areas of thewarmerpartsof the Temperate Zone. 

It seems to me that among existing plant 

assemblages the Alum Bluff flora represents 

three types of plant associations. One corresponds in a general way to the ''low hammock'' 

of present-day peninsular Florida, a type intermediate between the true hammock and the 

swamp type. A second plant assemblage indicated is that of the low-lying semiswamp palmetto-brake type, along with some forms of the 

sandy strand, such as Pisonia, Cmsalpinia, and 

Fagara. In other words, this flora would find 

a congenial habitat at the present time in the 

delta of Apalachicola River or almost anywhere along the coast of peninsular -Florida. 

Although so much less extensive, the Alum 

Bluff flora is somewhat less tropical in its facies 

than the flora of the Wilcox group and decidedly less . tropical than the floras of the Claiborne, Jackson, Vicksburg, or Catahoula. On 

the other hand, it has not nearly the temperate 

facies of the flora of the overlying Chesapeake 

1 Vaughan, T. W., Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 133, p. 156, 1910. 

Miocene and also indicates much more humid 

conditions than the latter. This statement is 

based on the flora of the Calvert and a consideration of the abundant marine faunas of the 

Calvert, St. Marys, Yorktown, Duplin, Choctawhatchee, and Jacksonville formations. 

The Alum Bluff flora may be considered to 

be the result of a reversal of the history of the 

present flora of peninsular Florida. That is to 

say, the present flora represents primarily a 

temperate flora receiving additions from the 

Tropics, whereas the Alum Bluff flora represents an endemic tropical flora gradually becoming invaded by members of a temperate flora 

as a result of changing climatic conditions. 

AGE OF THE FLORA. 

The stratigraphic relations clearly indicate 

that the Alum Bluff flora is younger than the 

Vicksburg Oligocene and older than the Chesapeake Miocene. The faunal and floral evidence 

is equally conclusive. Not a single Alum Bluff 

plant is common to the Oligocene (Vicksburg 

and Catahoula) floras of Mississippi, Louisiana, 

and Texas nor to the Chesapeake Miocene floras, 

which are, however, smaller than those from the 

Oligocene. Moreover, the facies of the Alum 

Bluff flora is decidedly different from that of the 

floras of any of these horizons. There are no 

western United States or West Indian fossil 

floras for comparison, so that it remains to consider the probable European equivalents of the 

Alum Bluff. 

As the Alum Bluff flora is obviously younger 

than the abundant European floras of the Sannoisian (Lattorfian, Tongrian) and Stampian 

(Rupelian) and older than the exceedingly rich 

floras of the Helvetian and Tortonian (Vindobonian), the only stages remaining are the Chattian (Kasselian), Aquitanian, and Burdigalian 

(Langhian, Mayencian). · 

The Chattian (Fuchs, 1894) is the lower 

Aquitanian of Munier Chalmas and De Lapparent (1893). It is considered the equivalent of 

the Kasselian ·and in the Paris Basin is represented, according to Lemoine, by the meulieres 

de Montmorency. According to Hang its invertebrate fauna is distinguished by the absence 

of Miocene types. 

The Aquitanian (Mayer, 1857) now has the 

narrow limits assigned by Dollfus (1906-7). It 

marks the maximum regression of the Oligocene 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS AND AGE INDICATED BY FLORA OF ALUM BLUFF FORMATION. 45 

sea due to the elevation of the Pyrenees and the 

beginning of Alpine orogenesis. Marine waters 

invaded the marginal coa,sts in Aquitaine, the 

Gironde, and Provence, in southern Spain, in 

Italy, and at various points on the south side 

of the eastern Alps; but the great bulk of the 

Aquitanian sediments n,re those of lakes, 

swamps, and lagoons, with lignites and abundant and widespread mammals and plants. 

In Aquitaine the Tongrian is said to grade 

imperceptibly into the Aquitanian both lithologically and faunally, a,nd the latter passes 

into the Burdigalian in the same gradual manner. The floras of the Aquitanian are likewise transitional in character between Oligocene and :Miocene. The marine faunas, however, are said by Haug to contain only 4 per 

cent of Oligocene species and many Miocene 

species, but the foraminiferal genus Lepidocyclina passes without n1odification from the 

Chattian into the Aquitanian. The Aquitanian has long been considered the uppermost 

stage of the Oligocene, although many paleontologists have pointed out the resemblances 

between the upper Aquitanian floras and 

faunas and those of the Burdigalian. In recent 

years, under the leadership of Dollfus and other 

French students, the Aquitanian has been made 

the basal stage of the :Miocene, although the 

question of its reference to the Oligocene or 

Miocene is vigorously disputed. 

The Burdigalian (Deperet, 1892) is Closely 

related to the Aquitaniim both faunally and 

florally. The marine faunas as well as the terrestrial floras are said to indicate a slight 

lowering of temperatures since Aquitanian 

time. Tectonic changes had caused the disappearance of the broad lakes of the Aquitanian, and the Burdigalian materials comprise 

marine sediments on th~ southern and western borders of the continent and a series of 

river, flood-plain, and swamp deposits (brown 

coal) in the region extending from France to 

Bohemia. 

It can not be said that the Alum Bluff flora 

offers conclusive evidence for detailed correlation, as it is too small. All but two of the 

species are new and offer only indirect evidence. Of these new species the illmus is 

very similar to Ulmus longifolia Unger, of the 

Aquitanian of Bohemia, Germany, Styria, 

and France, and the Sapotacites is most 

like Sapotacites (Ohrysophyllum) sagorianum, 

from the Aquitanian of Sagor, in Carniola, 

described by Ettingshausen. The two species 

with an outside distribution, Oinnamomum 

scheuchzeri and Diospyros brachysepala, have 

both been identified in beds from a great variety of horizons in Europe. Although many 

of these identifications are of doubtful value, 

both species had a wide range, geographic as 

well as geologic. The original descriptions of 

both, by Alexander Braun, were based on 

rna terial from the Tortonian of Oeningen in 

Baden. The two species are typically0ligocene1\1iocene forms and both are common and characteristic in the Aquitanian and Burdigalian of 

Europe. 

It is thus apparent that the Alum Bluff flora 

can be considered either Aquitanian or Burdigalian, with a slight preponderance of the evidence in favor of the Aquitanian. Maury 1 on 

the evidence of the molluscanfauna correlated 

the Chipola marl with the Aquitanian and considered the Oak Grove fauna, as well as that 

of the sands at Alum Bluff above the Chipola, 

as "transitional" between Aquitanian and 

Miocene. If subsequent paleozoologic studies 

corroborate Maury's work, there will be substantial agreement between the floral and 

faunal evidence. 

If the Alum Bluff formation is of Aquitanian or Burdigalian age-and one or the 

other alternative seems certain-the more or 

less academic question is raised whether it 

shall be classed as Oligocene or Miocene. 

Since the proposal of the term Oligocene by 

Beyrich in 1854 many have questioned its 

utility or ultimate survival. Certainly there is 

but slight structural (diastrophic) evidence for 

placing the Oligocene-Miocene boundary in 

Europe between the Aquitanian and Burdigalian, and the marine faunas as well as the 

terrestrial floras and faunas show a gradual 

transition from the one stage to the other, so 

that the French paleontologists will probably 

be followed in their contention that the Aquitanian should be placed in the Miocene. 

In considering the American application of 

the term Oligocene, it may be noted that there 

appears to have been continuous and uninterrupted sedimentation in the Florida area from 

the deposition of the underlying Chattahoochee 

formation into Alum Bluff time. There also 

seems to have been a succession of minor earth 

movements during this period, and there was 

a greater influx of terrigenous materials into 

1 Maury, C. G., Bull. Am. Paleontology No. 15, 1902. 
46 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

the Alum Bluff sea than into the Chattahoochee the formation of leaf spots. These spots are of 

sea, a change in sedimentary character more definite form and regular outline, small and 

probably due to an jnland rise of the land circular at first, becoming larger with age and 

which accelerated erosion than to the shal- elongated parallel to the long axis of the ray, 

lowing of the sea. thus becoming elliptical or lenticular in outline. 

It seems obvious that the Alum Bluff forma- Maximum size observed, 1.5 centimeters in 

tion as a whole is a predominantly shallow- length and 0.5 centimeter in width. Average 

water deposit of clays and sands and that the size, about 6 by 2 millimeters. The appearance 

Chipola, Oak Grove, and Shoal River members of the. infested leaves is well illustrated in the 

are faunal zones contained in successive len tic- figures, and they are scarcely to be distinguished 

ular beds in the clays or sands. The faunules from numerous leaves of the existing scrub 

of these zones are closely related but show, palmettos, as for example, Serenoa serrulata 

according to Dall/ certain elements of tran- (Michaux) Hooker, infested with the existing 

sition in the Oak Grove sand from the tropical leaf-spot fungus Pestalozzia sp. 

Chipola fauna to one indicating a slight lower- Occurrence: Hattiesburg clay, Raglan, Foring of the temperature. rest County, Miss.; collected by E. W. Berry. 

There is thus no structural (diastrophic) evi- Alum Bluff formation, Alum Bluff, Liberty 

dence for drawing the Oligocene-Miocene County, Fla.; collected by E. W. Berry. 

boundary between the Chattahoochee and Collections: United States National Museum. 

Alum Bluff formations, nor is there any floral 

or faunal evidence for such a boundary. 

There is such a break between the Vicksburg 

and Apalachicola groups, and the Alum Bluff 

is separated by an erosion unconformity from 

the overlying Choctawhatchee Miocene. It 

rests with invertebrate paleontology to determine whether or not the whole of the Apalachicola group shall be considered Miocene. 

Whatever may be the final verdict, it remains 

true that the flora preserved at Alum Bluff records the last phase of sedimentation before 

the area emerged from the sea and that the 

most profound break in Tertiary sedimentation 

in the southeastern United States, emphasized 

equally by epeirogenic, faunal, and floral 

changes, was at the end of Apalachicola timethat is, it is represented by the unconformity . 

at the top of the Alum Bluff formation. 

SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT OF THE FLORA. 

Class FUNGI. 

Order MELANCONIALES. 

Family MELANCONIACE.lE. 

Genus PESTALOZZITES Berry. 

Pestalozzites sabalana Berry, n. sp. 

Plate VIII, figure 3; Plate IX, figure 9. 

Essential characters unknown. Found infesting the leaves of Sabalites apalachicolensis 

Berry in considerable abundance and causing 

1 Dall, W. H., Contributions to the Tertiary fauna of Florida: Wagner Free Inst. Sci. Trans., vol. 3, pt. 2, pp. 1574-1575, 1903. 

Class ANGIOSPERM.lE. 

Subclass MONOCOTYLEDONJE. 

Order ARECALES. 

Family PALMACE.lE. 

Genus SABALITES Saporta. 

Sabalites apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate VIII, figures 1-5; Plate IX, figure 9. 

Leaves of variable size, the maximum diameter estimated (from collected material) at 

about 120 centimeters. Rachis large, linear, 

not enlarged at the base of the leaf, lenticular 

in cross section, with straight unarmed edges, 

continued for a short distance on the lower side 

of the leaf as a rapidly narrowed acumen which 

is only 3.5 centimeters in length in the small 

specimen figured; abruptly rounded-truncate at 

the base of the leaf on the upper side, where an 

inconspicuous ligule is present. Rays numerous, 40 to 60 in number, carinate, linearlanceolate in form, expanding to their middle, 

and free for about the upper third of their 

length, more or less curved at the base. Maximum width observed about 4 centimeters; 

average about 2 centinieters. Midribs of rays 

not especially strong or prominent. Second .. 

aries numerous, fine, longitudinal, parallel, 

largely immersed in the leaf substance, which 

must have been coriaceous. No transverse 

veinlets observed. 

This species has a recorded range along the 

coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS AND AGE INDICATED BY FLORA OF ALUM BLUFF FORMATION. 47 

central Mississippi and is in places abundant 

but everywhere fragmentary. In the absence 

of fairly well preserved specimens showing the 

rachis and acumen it is impossible to distinguish this form from the Wilcox species Sabalites grayanus Berry or the Oligocene species 

Sabalites vicksburgensis Berry, so that possibly 

the latter species, represented by incomplete material, may be present in the Alum Bluff sands, 

although I consider this extremely doubtful. 

Sabalites grayanus differs from the present 

spec!es in the expanded upper end of the rachis, 

the longer and more gradually narrowed acumen, and the more numerous rays, which are 

usually more conspicuously veined. 

The fragments of rays which are so common 

in some of the deposits of the Vicksburg group 

and which are made the bnsis of Sabalites vicksburgensis are to be distinguished from S. apalachicolensis chiefly by their much more prominent venation and longer and more slender 

acumen. The present species at its region of 

maximum occurrence at Alum Bluff is badly 

infested with a leaf-spot fungus which I have 

described as Pestalozzites sabalana Berry, n. sp. 

The foliage of palms is abundant and well 

distributed throughout the deposits of the 

Wilcox, Claiborne, Vicksburg, and Apalachicola groups, indicating the abundance of plants 

of this type in southeastern North America 

during the Tertiary period. Few of these 

remains represent entire leaves, and in many 

places only fragments of rays are preserved. 

Palm leaves are notoriously difficult of determination, and the bulk of remains representing flabellate fan palms with an acumen are 

referred by American students to the genus 

Sabalites and by European students to Sabal. 

Two methods of specific differentiation are 

possible. Minor differences and stratigraphic 

position may be ignored, as in the case of the 

geographically and geologically wide-ranging 

Sabal major Unger of Eurasia, or minor differences that also represent differences in geologic 

age may have considerab1e weight in specific 

differentiation. The latter is the method that 

I have found most useful from both the biologic and the geologic viewpoint. 

The extreme tropical climate of Vicksburg 

and Catahoula time, which is reflected in the 

abundant traces of palms found in deposits of 

Vicksburg or Catahoula age from Texas eastward, continued through the time of deposition 

of the Chipola marl member of the Alum Bluff 

formation. Fortunately conditions were favorable for petrification, and fragments of petrified palm trunks, many of them of large size, 

are abundant throughout the area underlain 

by the Vicksburg or Catahoula deposits. 

Seven species of Palmoxylon have been described from these deposits. So far as I am 

aware no petrified palms have thus far been 

obtained from the Alum Bluff sands, but palm 

foliage is very abundant in the leaf-bearing 

lens at Alum Bluff. I have never seen so great 

an abundance of stipes and rays of palms as 

occur at this outcrop. In places whole layers 

consist of a mass of frayed and tangled rays in 

a matrix of sandy alluvium. They are usually 

much macerated, and only here and there can 

larger fragments of leaves be found. They are 

almost equally abundant in the similar materials cropping out near Raglan, Miss. This 

suggests the presence near the coast in late 

Alum Bluff time of extensive palmetto swamps 

or brakes along the lower reaches of a sluggish 

river or estuary only a few feet above mean 

water level-not flooded or true swamps, but 

subject to periodic overflow. 

Occurrence: Hattiesburg clay, Raglan, Forrest County, Miss. (common; collected by E. 

W. Berry); and near Chicoria, on Chickasawhay River, Wayne County, Miss. (collected by 

E. W. Berry). Alum Bluff formation, Alum 

Bluff, Liberty County, Fla. (collected by E. W. 

Berry), and Boynton Bluff, Choctawhatchee 

River; Fla. (collected by E. H. Sellards). 

Collections: United States National Museum. 

Subclass DICOTYLEDONlE. 

Order FAGALES. 

Family ULMACElE. 

Genus ULMUS Linne. 

Ulmus floridana Berry, n. sp. 

Plate IX, figures 5-7. 

Leaves of medium or small size, ovate-lanceolate in general outline, with slightly inequilateral cuneate rounded or subcordate 

base, and a gradually narrowed, somewhat extended acuminate tip. Length from 4 to 7 

centimeters. Maximum width, in the basal 

half of the leaf, from 1.5 to 3 centimeters. 

1fargins entire at the extreme base, above 

which they are finely and sharply doubly ser-
48 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

rate, the teeth increasing slightly in size distad. 

Petiole short and stout, about 2.5 millimeters 

in length. Midrib of medium size, relatively 

thin and flexuous. Secondaries thin, 10 to 

12, subopposite to alternate, in rather irregu-. 

larly spaced pairs; they diverge from the 

midrib at angles varying from about 75° near 

the base to 30° near the tip, averaging about 

50°; they pursue a rather straight craspedodrome course and near their tips give off one 

or two outwardly directed tertiaries, which 

run to · the teeth or to the sinuses. 

This well-marked species of Ulmus appears 

to have been common during Alum Bluff 

time and constitutes the one strictly temperate 

element in the Alum Bluff flora. Among ex~ 

isting species it is most similar to mmus alata 

Michaux, which ranges from western Florida 

northward to Virginia and from Texas to 

Illinois. Like U. alata, the fossil species was 

probably an inhabitant of rich alluvial swamp 

and stream borders, for it seems probable that 

the fossiliferous lens in the Alum Bluff sands 

is the result of stream action. Among fossil 

species, of which many have been described, 

it bears more or less resemblance to a number 

of widely scattered forms, especially becau~e 

the limits of variation of the foliage among 

different species of Ulmus are not wide. The 

most similar fossil form is Ulmus longifolia, described by Unger 1 and subsequently recorded 

from th.e Aquitanian of Bohemia, Germany, 

Styria, and France, which is extremely close 

to the American species. 

The genus Ulmus may be distinguished from 

the allied genus Carpinus by the usually more 

inequilateral leaves and by the tertiaries to 

the marginal sinuses. 

Occurrence: Hattiesburg clay, Raglan, Forrest County, Miss. (collected by E. W. Berry). 

Alum Bluff formation, Alum Bluff, Liberty 

County, Fla. (collected by E. W. Berry). 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Order URTICALES. 

Family MORACElE. 

Genus ARTOCARPUS Forster. 

Artocarpus lessigiana floridana Berry, n. var. 

Plate X, figures 5-7. 

Leaves of large size, rather smaller than the 

type, but very poorly preserved in the current-bedded sands. At least 25 centimeters in 

1 Unger, Franz, Chloris protogrea, p. 101, pl. 26, fig. 5~ 1847. 

length and about 13 centimeters in maximum 

width, thus more narrowly oblong in ge:Iferal 

outline than the type. Pinnately 8 to 10 

lobed; the lobes short, relatively broad and 

conical, acutely pointed and directed obliquely 

outward, separated by very narrow sinuses. 

Midrib stout. Lateral primaries stout, diverging from the midrib at angles of about 45°, 

one to each lobe, terminating in its tip. 

Secondaries alternating with the primaries, 

one to each sinus, the latter with the charactemtic marginal hem. Tertiaries mostly obsolete. Areolation quadrangular where seen. 

Texture coriaceous. There was evidently considerable variation in outline, for the basal 

portion of the leaf shown in figure 6 has a 

cuneate base and must have had strongly 

ascending lobes. 

This form is based on very fragmentary 

specimens from the Alum Bluff sands. It 

may be distinguished from Artocarpus lessigiana 

by its relatively narrower form and its finer 

venation. The latter comes from the Wilcox 

group, a much earlier horizon, and has not 

been found in the intervening interval, represented by the Claiborne, Jackson, Vicksburg, 

and Catahoula deposits. I have a feeling that 

the Alum Bluff material represents a new 

species, but I hesitate to set up a species on 

such fragmentary material, which is, however, 

the best obtainable by the most careful collecting. 

Remains of Artocarpus have been found in 

Europe, Greenland, and the United States. 

In this couritry we have the Laramie-Denver 

type, which is considered the .parent stock of 

the present variety. This type and two 

other species are represented in the late Wilcox of Louisiana and Arkansas by excellent 

rna terial. There is a Fort Union species and 

another Eocene form on the Pacific coast. 

In Europe several species range from the 

Upper Cretaceous to the Pliocene. 

There are about 40 existing species of Artocarpus, all endemic in the southeastern Asiatic 

region, ranging from Ceylon throughout Malaysia to China and represented by cultivated 

forms in all tropical countries. They apparently did not become extinct in North America 

until the interval between the deposition of the 

Alum Bluff formation and the migration of the 

Chesapeake Miocene fauna into the Florida 

region, a migration indicating a lowering of 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS AND AGE INDICATED BY FLORA OF ALUM BLUFF FORMATION. 49 

temperatures entirely sufficient to explain the 

extinction of Artocarpus on the mainland but 

not offering a satisfactory explanation ~f its 

failure to survive in more southern latitudes. 

Occurrence: Alum Bluff formation Alum . ' Bluff, Liberty County, Fla. (collected by E. W. 

Berry). 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Order CHENOPODIALES. 

Family NYCTAGINACElE. 

Genus PISONIA Linne. 

. Pisonia apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate X, figure 1. 

Leave~ of relatively large size for this genus, 

ob~va~e In general outline, wit.h a broad apex, 

whiCh Is evenly rounded or bluntly pointed, and 

a gradually narrowed, sharply cuneate base. 

Length about 5.75 centimeters; maximum 

width, above the middle; about 2.4 centimeters. 

Margins entire. Texture coriaceous. Petiole 

short and stout, about 6 millimeters in length. 

Midrib stout but immersed in the thick leaf 

substance, curved. Secondaries entirely immersed and obsolete. 

The modern species of Pisonia are numerous; 

they occur chiefly in the Tropics in both hemispheres and are largely coastal types. They are 

abundantly developed in Central America and 

tropic~l South America, and several species 

occur In the West Indies and Antilles. About 

15 fossil species have been described, the earliest recorded being fr01n the Upper Cretaceous 

of both America and Europe. The lower 

Eocene of southeastern North America has furnished two well-marked species, there is a species said to be represented by both leaves and 

fruit in the basal Eocene of the Rocky Mountain area, a fourth species occurs in the Claiborne group, and a fifth has been found in the 

Jackson. Perhaps the most similar fossil form 

based on both leaves and fruits, is Pisani~ eocenica Ettingshausen/ from the lignites of 

Haering, in Tyrol, which is upper Eocene or 

lower Oligocene in age, occurring also as early 

as the Lutetian of England. 

Among existing species several are close to 

the present form. Pisonia longifolia Sargent, 

of the beaches and shores of lagoons from the 

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

p. 43, pl. 11, figs. 1-22, 1853. 

Florida keys through the West Indies to Brazil 

is very similar to Pisonia apalachicolensis: 

though only about two-thirds as large. 

Occurrence: Alum Bluff formation Alum 

Bluff, Liberty County, Fla. (collected h~ E. W. 

Berry). 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Order ROSALES. 

Family ClESALPINIACElE. 

Genus ClESALPINIA Linne. 

Cresalpinia sellardsi Berry, n. sp • 

Plate IX, figures 1, 2. 

L~aflets small,' sessile, inequilateral, elliptical In outline, 7.5 millimeters in lenO'th and 

4.2 millimeters in greatest width~ Apex 

broadly rounded. Base strongly inequilaterally truncated, one margin ascending and the 

opposite margin subauriculate. Midrib slender. Secondaries two or more slender ascend- . ' ' Ing, camptodrome. Margins entire. 

This species, which is obviously new, is 

clearly the leaf of some shrub or tree of the 

family Cresalpiniacere. Though only a few 

specimens were observed, this can not be 

considered as indicating scarcity, for the plant 

material at Alum Bluff is all rather meager 

and poorly preserved. It seems probable that 

the present species was a member of the 

strand flora, the strand being the habitat 

preferred by a number of species of this genus 

In the modern tropica 1 American flora. 

The fossil species may be compared with a 

number of existing species, with which it 

shows a very close agreement. Among previously described fossil species it is very close 

to what has been identified bv Schenk 2 as 

Otesalpinia townshendi Heer, fro~ the Stampian 

of Sieblos, originally described by Heer 3 from 

the Aquitanian and Tortonian of Switzerland 

and Baden and identified by Geyler from the 

Messinian of Sicily. 

There is a very notable display of Mimosacere and Cresalpiniacere in the flora of the 

Wilcox group, and these elements probably 

continued to be prominent throughout the? 

remainder of the Eocene and the Oligocene, 

2 Schenk, August, in Zittel, K. A., Handbuch der Palaeontologie 

Abth. 2, Palaeophytologie, p. 700, fig. 369 (4), 1890. ' 3 Heer, Oswald, Flora tertiaria Helvetire, vol. 3, 1Jl. 137, figs. 26-37, 

1859. 
50 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

although the record is much less completely 

preserved in the post-Wilcox sediments. The 

present species is probably but one of many 

related forms that inhabited southeastern 

North America during the deposition of the 

Alum Bluff formation. It is more inequilateral 

than any of the known Tertiary species from 

this general reg,ion, although it might perhaps 

be considered a descendant of Ocesalpinites 

pinsonensis Berry, a somewhat smaller, less 

oblique, and more coriaceous form, from the 

sands of middle Wilcox age in Madison County, 

Tenn. It is named for Dr. E. H. Sellards, State 

geologist of Florida, who visited this celebrated 

locality with me and helped collect the fossil 

plants. 

Occurrence: Alum Bluff formation, Alum 

Bluff, Fla. (collected by E. W. Berry). 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Order GERANIALES. 

Family RUTACE.l.E. 

Genus FAGARA Linne. 

Fagara apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate IX, figure 2. 

Leaves compound. Leaflets sessile, of medium size for this genus, elliptical in general 

outline, with a broadly rounded apex and a 

broadly pointed base. Length about 3 centimeters; maximum width, above the middle, 

about 1. 7 5 centimeters. Margins entire. Texture coriaceous. Midrib stout, somewhat 

flexuous. Secondaries four or five, subopposite to alternate pairs, irregularly spaced, 

diverging from the midrib at angles varying 

from 35° to 50°, rather straight in their 

courses, abruptly camptodrome close to the 

margins. Tertiaries thin, more or less immersed, forming small quadrangular or polygonal meshes. 

The genus Fagara, which contains more than 

150 living species of shrubs and trees, is 

cosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical countries. A few forms more properly referable to 

Xanthoxylum range for considerable distances 

in the Temperate Zone, particularly in southeastern North America. Fossil forms based 

on foliage are usually confused with the 

closely allied genus Xanthoxylum Linne. Leaflets referable to Fagara are not uncommon 

throughout our southern Tertiary deposits, 

several different forms from the Eocene and 

Oligocene having been described. The genus 

appears to have been especially prominent in 

the torrid flora of the Vicksburg group, and 

the leaflets are very abundant in the clays of 

that age. The present species i:;;; clearly unlike 

any of these, being especially different in its 

broad apex and narrowed base, and might 

readily be confused with the small entire 

leaves of some live oak. The scarcity of leaf 

remains in the Alum Bluff formation renders 

any remarks on the relative abundance ~f 

their described flora without much significance. 

Occurrence: Alum Bluff formation, Alum 

Bluff, Liberty County, Fla. (collected by E. W. 

Berry), and Boynton Bluff, Choctawhatchee 

River, Fla. (collected by E. H. Sellards). 

Collection: United States NationalMuseum. 

Order RHAMNALES. 

Family RHAMNACE.l.E. 

Genus RHAMNUS Linne. 

Rhamnus apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 

·Plate IX, figure 8. 

Leaves rather large for this genus, broadly 

elliptical in general outline, with a broad and 

evenly rounded apex and base. Length about 

8 centimeters; maximum width, in the middle 

part of the leaf, about 4.6 centimeters. Margins entire, evenly rounded. Texture subcoriaceous. Midrib stout. Secondaries stout, four 

or five alternate pairs, diverging from the midrib at angles of about 55° to 60°, curving upward almost immediately in a broad, sweeping 

curve, becoming subparallel with the lateral 

margins, along which they arch camptodromely. 

Tertiaries thin, closely set, subparallel, mostly 

percurrent at right angles to the midrib. 

This large leaf is distinct from the numerous 

fossil species of Rhamnus previously described, 

although it resembles a number of them more 

or less closely. The genus has about 60 existing species, widely distribut.ed in nearly all temperate and many tropical parts of the world and 

found on all the continents except Australia. 

The genus Rhamnus is fairly prominent in 

Tertiary floras of southeastern North America, 

the Rhamnacem being also represented by 

forms of Zizyphus and Paliurus of tropical 

type. Six species from the Wilcox group have 

been described, but none are yet known from 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS AND AGE INDICATED BY FLORA OF ALUM BLUFF FORMATION. 51 

the Claiborne, Jackson, Vicksburg, or Catahoula. 

Occurrence: Alum Bluff formation, Alum 

Bluff, Liberty County, Fla. (collected by E. W. 

Berry). 

Collection : United States National Museum. 

Order THYMELEALES. 

Family LAURACEJE. 

Genus NECTANDRA Roland. 

N ectandra apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate IX, figure 3. 

Leaves oblong-ovate in general outline, 

broadest near the middle and tapering to the 

bluntly pointed apex and base. Length about 

8 centimete:rs; maximum width, halfway between the apex and the base, about 2.5 centimeters. Margins entire, evenly curved. Texture coriaceous. Midrib stout. Secondaries 

about 10 subopposite pairs, diverging from the 

midrib at wide angles, about 60°, rather 

straight in their courses two-thirds of the distance to the margins, where they curve abruptly 

upward and form a succession of small camptodrome arches along the margins. Tertiaries 

obsolete. 

The genus N ectandra has about 70 existing 

species confined to tropical and subtropical 

America, several of which are practically identical with this Alum Bluff species. There are 

numerous fossil species, the genus being well 

represented throughout the Eocene of southeastern North America, especially in the sediments of the Wilcox group, from which at least 

five species are known. It is represented in the 

Claiborne and Jackson but has not yet been 

found in the Vicksburg or Catahoula. The 

present species is not particularly close to any 

of the described fossil forms. 

Occurrence: Alum Bluff formation, Alum 

Bluff, Liberty County, Fla. (collected by E. W. 

Berry). 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Genus CINNAMOMUM Blume. 

Cinnamomum scheuchzeri Heer. 

Plate X, figure 4. 

Cinnamomu.m 8cheuchzeri. Heer, Flora tertiaria Helvetire, 

vol. 2, p. 85, pl. 91, figs. 4-22; pl. ~2; pl. 93, figs. 1, 5, 

1856. 

This species was described by Alexander Braun 

from both calyx and leaves, obtained in the 

Tortonian of Oeningen, Baden. Typical rnateri31 is common in the type area in both the 

Aquitanian and the Burdigalian. Only the 

original description of Heer, which is accompanied by ample figures, is cited above, for 

sanguine students have fancied that they had 

found this species at all horizons from the Upper Cretaceous to the Pliocene, and at a very 

large number of localities throughout the 

Northern Hemisphere. Some of these identifications are undoubtedly correct, and the 

species certainly had a wide geographic and 

geologic range. Other identifications are unquestionably erroneous, but it is impossible to 

sift the good from the bad without access to 

the original material, and I have therefore not 

attempted to give the synonymy or range. 

The Alum Bluff material appears to be identical with a part of Heer's material from the 

type area, and it is also of the same age, so 

that I have no hesitation in identifying it with 

Heer's species. It denotes an ovate-lanceolate 

leaf, rather abruptly pointed at the extremities, the base being broader than the apex. 

Length about 8 centimeters; maximum width, 

in the middle part of the leaf, 2. 7 centimeters. 

Margins entire. Texture coriaceous. Midrib 

stout. Lateral primaries one on each side, subopposite, suprabasilar, camptodrome. Secondaries thin, three or four camptodrome pairs in 

upper half of the leaf. 

Occurrence: Alum Bluff formation, Alum 

Bluff, Liberty County, Fla. (collected by E. W. 

Berry). 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Order EBENALES. 

Family SAPOTACEJE. 

Genus BUMELIA Swartz. 

Bumelia apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate IX, figure 4. 

Leaves oblong-obovate in genera-l outline, 

with an evenly rounded apex and a narrowed 

cuneate base. Length about 4 centimeters; 

maximum width, above the middle of the leaf, 

about 1.9 centimeters. Margins entire, rather 

full. Texture coriaceous. Petiole short and 

stout, about 2.5 millimeters in length. Midrib 

stout, especially proximad, curved. Seconda~ 

ries thin, numerous, 10 to 12 subopposite to 

alternate pairs, subparallel, at approximately 

regular intervals; they diverge from the midrib at angles of about 40° and are camptodrome 
52 SHORTER CONTRIBU'riONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 

in the marginal region. 

in the leaf substance. 

Tertiaries immersed about 2. 75 centimeters. Margins entire. TexIn the modern flora the genus Bumelia embraces about 20 species of shrubs and mostly 

small trees, confined to the Western Hemisphere, where they are distributed from the 

southern United States through the West Indies, Mexico, and Central America to Brazil. 

Some of the species range northward to Virginia and southern Illinois. They inhabit for 

the most part the strand, sandy soil near the 

coast, river bottoms, and the borders of swamps. 

Fossil species of Bumelia are numerous and the 

genus was probably cosmopolitan during the 

Tertiary-it was certainly common in the European area. It has been continuously represented in southeastern North America since the 

Upper Cretaceous. Four lower Eocene species 

from this area have been described, one of 

which, Bumelia pseudotenax Berry, from the 

Wilcox group of northern Mississippi, is not 

unlike the Alum Bluff species but somewhat 

smaller and relatively narrower. Other species are present in the deposits of the Claiborne 

and Vicksburg groups. 

Compared with existing American species the 

present form is closer to the temperate than to 

the tropical species. It is intermediate between 

Bumelia tenax Willden ow and B. lanuginosa 

Persoon and may stand in an ancestral rela-

, tionship to these modern forms. The former 

ranges along the coast from Cape Canaveral to 

North Carolina and the latter from northern 

Florida along the Gulf coast and up the Mississippi Valley to southern Illinois and is abundant and of its largest size in the river bottoms 

of eastern Texas. 

Occurrence: Alum Bluff formation, Alum 

Bluff, Liberty County, Fla. (collected by E. W. 

Berry). 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Genus SAPOTACITES Ettingshausen. 

Sapotacites spatulatus Berry, n. sp. 

Plate X, figure 2. 

Leaves of medium size, obovate or spatulate 

in general outline, with a broadly rounded 

apex, from which it narrows gradually with 

nearly straight lateral margins to the sharply 

cuneate base. Length about 7 centimeters; 

maximum width in the upper part of the leaf, 

ture coriaceous. Petiolar portion missing. 

Midrib stout but more or less immersed. 

Secondaries obsolete by immersion. Tertiaries shown in microscopic preparations to 

form a very close meshed areolation. 

Sapotacites is a form genus for genericaJly 

undifferentiated or undeterminable members 

of the family Sapotacere, and numerous species 

that range from the Upper Cretaceous through 

the Tertiary have been described. It is possible to refer many of these ancient species, 

such as the numerous forms in the flora of the 

Wilcox group, to Bumelia, Mimusops, Sideroxylon, Chrysophyllum, and other allied ·genera. The present form is much like a number 

of existing species of Mimusops as well as some 

forms of Bumelia. The family is chiefly tropical and subtropical. 

No fossil species are especially close to the 

present one, although it shows considerable 

resemblance to Ohrysophyllum sagorianum Ettingshausen/ from the Aquitanian of Sagor, in 

Carniola. 

Occurrence: Alum Bluff formation, Alum 

Bluff, Liberty County, Fla. (collected by E. W. 

Berry). 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

Family EBENACElE. 

Genus DIOSPYROS Linne. 

Diospyros brachysepala Alex. Braun. 

· Plate X, figure 3. 

Diospyros brachysepala. Alex. Braun, Die Tertiar-Flora 

von Oningen: Neues Jahrb., 1845, p. 170. 

Diospyros brachysepala. Heer, Flora tertiaria Helvetire, 

vol. 3, p. 11, pl. 102, figs. 1-14; pl. 153, fig. 39b, 1859. 

Diospyros brachysepala. Friedrich, Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Tertiarflora der Sachsen, pp. 63, 119, 126, 253, 

255, pl. 6, fig. 1, 1883. 

Diospyros brachysepala. Ward, Types of the Laramie 

flora: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 37, p. 104, pl. 49, figs. 

1, 2, 1887. 

This early described species has been recorded from a large number of American and 

Eurasian localities ranging in age from basal 

Eocene to Pliocene. It is improbable that a 

single species existed for so long a period, and 

I have therefore reduced the synonymy of 

1 Ettingshausen, Constantin, Die fossile Flora von Sagor in Krain, 

pt. 2, p. 14, pl. 12, figs. 19-21, 1877. 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS AND AGE INDICATED BY FLORA OF ALUM BLUFF FORMATION. 53 

this species to a few representative citations. 1 

The species has been recorded by Lesquereux, 

Ward, and others from the lower Eocene . of 

the Rocky Mountain area, as well as by 

Heer from West Greenland. I am not certain that aU these records are correct, for 

Diospyros brachysepala is typically an Oligocene-Miocene form. It is found in the type 

area in both the Aquitanian and Burdigalian. 

The Alum Bluff leaves, like most of the 

material referred to this species, are relatively 

small, about 5.5 centimeters in length and 2.8 

centimeters in maximum width, midway between the apex and the base, which are about 

equally pointed, the general outline being al1 A much more complete synonymy is given in my paper The lower 

Eocene floras of southeastern North America: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 91 (in press). 

most elliptical. The midrib is stout and the 

secondaries thin, numbering six or seven subopposite to alternate camptodrome pairs. The 

leaves here described are close to a number of 

examples figured by Heer from the type locality, but are relatively slightly broader than 

some of the forms referred to this species by 

different authors. In some respects they are 

very similar to Diospyros lamarensis Knowlton,Z from Lamar (probably upper Miocene), 

in Yellowstone Park. · 

Occurrence: Alum Bluff formation, Alum 

Bluff, Liberty County, Fla. (collected by E. W. 

Berry). 

Collection: United States National Museum. 

2 Knowlton, F. H., U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 32, pt. 2, p. 751, pl. 95, 

figs. 5, 6; pl. 96, fig. 4, 1899. 

PLATES VII-X. 

55 

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 98 PLATE VII 

A. PLANT-BEARING BEDS IN THE HATTIESBURG CLAY NEAR RAGLAN, 

FORREST COUNTY, MISS. 

B. PLANT-BEARING BEDS AT THE TYPE LOCALITY OF THE ALUM BLUFF FORMATION, ALUM 

BLUFF, APALACHICOLA RIVER, LIBERTY COUNTY~ FLA. 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 98 PLATE VIII 

FOSSIL PLANTS FROM THE ALUM BLUFF FORMATION AT ALUM BLUFF, FLA. 
PLATE VIII. 

FIGURES 1-5. Sabalites apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp., from the Alum Bluff formation, Alum Bluff, Liberty County, 

Fla. 

Figures 2 and 5 show prolongation of the rachis as a midrib on the under side of the leaf. 

Figure 3 shows fragment of a leaf infested with Pestalozzites sabalana Berry, n. sp. 

Figure 4 shows the upper side of a leaf base and the termination of the rachis as a truncate ligule. 

57 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

METAMORPHIC SEDIMENTARY ROCKS 

ORDOVICIAN 

~ Octoraro 

schist 

Shenandoah 

~ l imestone 

CAMBRIAN 

f01~€i~ Ch i ckies 

formation 

PRE-CAMB RIAN 

W i ssa hi cko n 

-

Ba lt i mor e m ic a g n eiss g n e iss 

( tgn e ous ,"n pare) 

t 'n '-' cal ~~ ' " 0 

2:tvhle · 

IGNEOUS ROCKS 

ORDOVICIAN 

OR YOUNGER 

m 

Pegmatite 

STRUCT1TRE SECTIO :- ~ OF DOE RUN AND A o~D ALE REG10N, HE~TEH COrNT.Y, P.A. 

•~o 1· lin <· · ot' :-;p ·tions ~ c geulogi nutp tPJate Il. 

PROFESSIONAL PAPER 98 PLATE Ill 

EARLY CAMBRIAN 

OR OLDER '\ 

/ 

>( 

Metag a bbro 
FIGURE 1. C'£salpinia sellardsi Berry, n. sp. 

FIGURE la. The same, X 5. 

PLATE IX 

FIGURE 2. Fagara apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 

FIGURE 3. Nectandra apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 

FIGURE 4. Bumelia apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 

FIGURES 5-7. Ulmus.floridana Berry, n. sp. 

FIGURE 8. Rhamnus apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 

FIGURE 9. Sabalites apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. Portion of a very large leaf infested with Pestalozzites sabalana 

Berry, n. sp. 

58 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

1 

2 

3 

6 

7 

I 

I 

I 

! 

I 

I 

I 

/ 

/ 

I 

PROFESSIONAL PAPER 98 PLATE IX 

_,,/"' 

/ 

...,.,/ .... -----r·" 

FOSSIL PLANTS FROM THE ALUM BLUFF FORMATION AT ALUM BLUFF, FLA. 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

1 

2 

6 

PROFESSIONAL PAPER 98 PLATE X 

5 /'\ 

I ' ,I \ I \ 

I ' 

4 

... ------------) 

/1 

/ -- -- / 

FOSSIL PLANTS FROM THE ALUM BLUFF FORMATION AT ALUM BLUFF, FLA. 
PLATE X. 

FIGURE 1. Pisonia apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 

FIGURE 2. Sapotacites spatulatus Berry, n. sp. 

FIGURE 3. Diospyros brachysepala Alexander Braun. 

FIGURE 4. Cinnamomurn scheuchzeri Heer. 

FIGURES 5-7. Artocarpus lessigianafloridana Berry, n. var. 

59