AN EARLY EOCENE FLORULE FROM CENTRAL TEXAS. 

By EDWARD WILBER BERRY. 

In 1916 I described 1 a florule collected by 

Alexander Deussen and L. W. Stephenson at 

the town of Earle, in Bexar County, Tex. 

This florule was tentatively considered of Midway age by these geologists, and examination 

of the fossil plants tended to confirm this assignment, particularly because of their lack of · 

harmony with the extensive Wilcox flora described in the volume cited above and because 

of their resemblance to the described floras 

from the Raton and Denver formations of 

Colorado and New Mexico. 

coarse, well-rounded grains in a highly calcareous cement. It is very similar in appearance to 

the concretionary masses often found in the Midway of Texas and is exactly like that containing 

the leaves at Earle, in Bexar County. 

The florule fr9m Earle contains the following 

spec1es: 

Pourouma texana Berry. 

Ficus denveriana Cockerell. 

Ficus occidentalis (Lesquereux) Lesquereux. 

Ficus sp. 

Platanus aceroides latifolia Knowlton. 

Cinnamomum affine Lesquereux. 

Subsequently, without any very definite evi- Laurus wardiana Knowlton. 

dence, the rocks in the area around Earle came Asimina eocenica Lesquereux. 

to be regarded as of Wilcox age and were so Dolichites deusseni Berry. 

mapped by Sellards.2 I visited the locality in Terminalia hilgardiana (Lesquereux) Berry. 

1921 in company with A. C. Trowbridge and Of these 10 species but 3-Ficus denveriana, 

L. W. ~tephenson but found no additional Ficus sp., and ;Ferminalia hilgardiana-had 

plant species. been recorded from the very extensive Wilcox 

Recently I received from 0. M. Ball, of the flora, and in part because of this fact, coupled 

Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, with the total absence of the genera Pourouma, 

a small collection of fossil plants obtained near Platanus, and Dolichites in the Wilcox, I was 

Sayersville, which is about 8 miles north of I led to consider the Earle outcrop more probably 

Bastrop, in Bastrop County. This collection Midway than Wilcox. . 

was found to represent the same flora as that The recent collection from Bastrop County 

found at Earle and had been preserved in a contains the following species: 

lithologically identical sandstone. This local- Pourouma texana Berry. 

ity is about 100 miles northeast of Earle and is Laurus wardiana Knowlton. 

in about the same relative position in the belt Asimina eocenica Lesquereux. 

in Bastrop County mapped as Wilcox on Deus- Terminalia hilgardiana (Lesquereux) Berry. 

sen's new map 3 as the locality at 'Earle in the Asplenium primero Knowlton. 

Viburnum sp. 

Wilcox belt in Bexar County shown on the Mespilodaphne precoushatta Berry, n. sp. 

same map. Rhamnites marginatus apiculatus? 

The Bastrop County locality is along tne Ficus post-trinervis Knowlton. 

railroad about 100 yards north of the station Rhamnus sp. 

at Sayersville. The sandstone in which the Terminalia lesleyana (Lesquereux) Berry. 

fossil leaves were found is overlain by about 10 

feet of reddish clay and consists of mostly 

1 Berry, E. W., The lower Eocene floras of southeastern North America: 

U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, pp. 8-20, 1916. 

2 Sellards, E. H., The geology and mineral resources of Bexar County: 

Texas Univ. Bull. 1932, 1920. 

a Deussen, Alexander, Geology of the Coastal Plain of Texas west of 

.Brazos River: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 126, pl. 8 (in press). 

Sapindus? sp. 

Four of these species-Pourouma texana, 

Laurus wardiana, Asimina eocenica, and Terminalia hilgardiana-are eommon to the two 

localities and are the most abundant forms at 

both. The combined list from these two 

localities amounts to 18 species, of which four 

87 
88 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1923-1924. 

are doubtfully determined because of their Rhamnus in the Raton formation of Colorado 

fragmentary nature or lack of specific char- and New Mexico, which is probably older than 

acter due to the coarseness of the matrix. the Wilcox, stamps these forms as abundant, 

The aspect of this assemblage as a whole is long ranging, and without precise stratigraphic 

in rather marked contrast to that of the known significance. 

Wilcox flora, which consists, according to the The Wilcox group in Alabama, where it conlatest revision,4 of 353 species and constitutes tains marine faunas, is divided into four formaas complete and representative a flora as has tions-from oldest to youngest the Nanafalia, 

been found at any geologic horizon. Of this Tuscahoma, Bashi, and Hatchetigbee. To the 

large number of plants in the Wilcox only six, northwest, in Mississippi, where the sediments 

and one of these doubtfully, have been recog- pass into those representing Eoc~ne barrier · 

nized at Earle or Sayersville, and this is exactly beaches and lagoonal and estuarine clays, 

one-third of the forms represented at the two marine fossils are almost entirely absent, and 

localities. Twelve species, or two-thirds of the the Wilcox group is divided, in ascending 

whole, are different from anything known in order, into the Ackerman, Holly Springs, and 

the large Wilcox flora. Three of these are Grenada formations, each characterized by 

peculiar to the two localities in Bexar and Bas- distinctive floral assemblages. In Tennessee 

trop counties; nine have been found elsewhere. the Wilcox deposits have not yet been differOf these nine species, one occurs in the Denver, entiated into formations and are included in 

Fort Union, and Hanna formations and doubt- the Lagrange formation, although the floras of 

fully in the Mesaverde formation; six occur in the Holly Springs and Grenada formations of 

the Raton formation; three occur in the true Mississippi are represented in Tennessee. 

Laramie, and one of these is doubtfully recorded There is some faunal as well as other evifrom the Dawson arkose. Of the forms com- dence for correlating the Grenada formation 

mon to the known Wilcox, three are certainly of Mississippi with the Hachetigbee formation of 

and one additional is doubtfully recorded from Alabama. The Holly Springs sand of Mississippi 

the Laramie, and one of these is found in the is thought to represent the Bashi formation of 

Lance. Alabama, with its faunal and other evidence of 

The Wilcox flora falls naturally into lower, the shoaling of the water; and the Ackerman 

middle, and upper assemblages, and these formation of Mississippi is thought to represent 

have demonstrated ·that the Wilcox sedimen- the Tuscahoma formation of Alabama and 

tation ·was ttansgressive both northward up also more or less of the upper part of the N anathe Mississippi embayment and westward · west falia formation. The relations sketched above 

of Mississippi River. No lower Wilcox plants are shown graphically in a paper published in 

have been recognized at any outcrops west of 1915,5 and sub~equent studies have fully 

the Mississippi unless the plants from Earle confirmed the conclusions expressed in that 

and Sayersville are lower Wilcox. paper. 

Of the six Wilcox plants found at Earle and Throughout the rest of the area occupied by 

Sayersville one, Ficus denveriana, is known the Wilcox to the west and southwest as far as 

only from the upper Wilcox, but as this species the Mexican border it has not . yet been found 

is commoner in and .characteristic of the Den- feasible to subdivide the deposits except in a 

ver and Raton formations of the West, which small area in southwestern Texas, where 

I regard as older than the Wilcox, it can not be Trowbridge 6 has recently proposed dividing 

con~idered as indicative of age within the them, in ascending order, into the Indio, CarWilcox. Another, Ficus sp., is found in the rizo, and Bigford formations. The oldest of 

middle Wilcox. The other four-Ficus occi- these, the Indio, contains oyster beds and 

dentalis, Rhamnus marginatus apiculatus, Ter- marine Foraminifera, as well as lignite and 

minalia hilgardiana, and Terminalia lesleyana- poorly preserved plants. The plants, of which 

range from the bottom to the top of the Wilcox, 

and the occurrence of all of these, except the 

4 Berry, E. W., Additions to the flora of the Wilcox group: U.S. Geol. 

Survey Prof. Paper 131, pp. 1-21, 1922. 

s Berry, E. W., Erosion intervals in the Eocene of the Mississippi 

embayment: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 95, fig. '%7, 1915. 

6 Trowbridge, A. C., A geologic reconnaissance in the Gulf Coastal 

Plain of Texas near the Rio Grande: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 131t 

pp. 85-117, 1922. 
AN EARLY EOCENE FLORULE FROM CENTRAL TEXAS. 89 

a considerable number have been satisfactorily identified, are distinctly younger than 

the known lower Wilcox floras found in the 

eastern part of th~ Mississippi embaymentthat is, in the Ackerman formation of the 

eastern Gulf area. These Indio plants could 

be considered as representing either the Holly 

Springs or the Grenada epoch of the Mississippi 

succession. The Indio formation is overlain in 

southwestern Texas by the transgressive Carrizo sandstone, which as traced toward the Rio 

Grande merges into the lithologically dissimilar Bigford formation. Both the Carrizo 

and the Bigford formations have furnished a 

considerable flora, which is of sufficient variety 

and precision to prove that they are of upper 

Wilcox age and is in striking contrast to the 

flora found near the base of the Mount Selman, 

the lowest formation of the overlying Claiborne 

group, in the same area. 

As the foregoing brief sketch makes clear, 

nothing has thus far been discovered corresponding to the conditions found in Bexar and 

Bastrop counties, and there is no known paleobotanic evidence of the presence of lower 

Wilcox sediments in the Coastal Plain of Texas, 

or, in fact, anywhere west of Mississippi River .. 

The distribution of the plants that form the 

basis of the present contribution is shown in 

the accompanying table, from which it will be 

seen that several of these plants, in their distribution in other regions, are strongly suggestive of a greater age than the Wilcox. There 

are two alternative conclusions-either that 

this flora indicates a Midway age, or that it 

represents an early Wilcox flora that was more 

ancient than the flora of the Ackerman formation of the eastern Gulf area, which, as previously stated, represents the upper Nanafalia 

and all of the Tuscahoma of the Alabama 

section. Perhaps a third possihility might be 

added, namelj, that it may 1epresent a flora 

that lived in central Texas during the time 

which the1e is reason to think intervened 

between the deposition of the known Midway 

and that of the known Wilcox in the region to 

the east of central Texas. 

I know of no method by which this question 

can be conclusively settled at the present 

time, as the Midway has never furnished satisfactorily determinable plant fossils. In 1910 

I collected three species of dicotyledonous 

leaves from the Porters Creek Midway near 

Middleton, Tenn., and one of these appears to 

rep resent the V ermej o species Ficus leei 

Knowlton. 7 · In 1921 Bruce Wade'· collected 

five species of plants near the base of the 

Porters Creek clay in Carroll County, Tenn. 

None of these are sufficiently well preserved 

to be satisfactorily determined, although one 

represents a fern, probably . referable to the 

genus Dryopteris, and another suggests Asimina 

eocenica, which is one of the common forms at 

Earle and Sayersville, Tex. :My own preference, which I can not say amounts to a conviction, would be to regard the flora under 

discussion as of Midway age. If it is really 

early Wilcox, as the geologists who have 

studied the areal relations of the Midway and 

Wilcox in Texas are inclined to consider it, it 

is of sufficient importance to merit the .present 

discussion. 

I have reproduced in Figure 8 a sketch map 

published originally in 1915, 8 showing the areal 

distribution of the lower, middle, and upper 

Wilcox floras. No exceptions to this interpretation have been discovered during the last 10 

years unless the florules found at Earle and 

Sayersville form such an exception, and the 

abundant evidence of the transgressive character of the middle and upper Wilcox in Texas 

is one of the strongest reasons for considering 

these florules to be of Midway age. 

If the Earle and Sayersville florules represent 

early Wilcox time, and I am frank to admit 

that they may, they indicate the probability 

that there may be other and similar areas in 

the western Gulf region that were not completely transgressed by the later Wilcox, which · 

is the only part of the Wilcox that has been 

paleobotanically recognized in that whole 

region. 

Such of the forms found at Sayersville as 

warrant the space are discussed in the following 

pages. The subjoined table presents the 

known distribution of the species found at 

Earle and Sayersville. 

7 Knowlton, F. H ., Fossil floras of the Vermbjo and Raton formations 

of Colorado and New Mexico: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 101, p. 261, 

pl. 39, figs. 1-6; pl: 40, :figs. 1, 2, 1918. 

aU. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 05, fig. 29, 1915. 
90 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1923-1924 . 

The type marine section 

of southern Alabama 

Distribution of the 

Ackerman or lower 

Wilcox flora 

Distribution of the 

Holly Springs or middle 

Wilcox flora 

Distribution • of the Grenada 

.or upper Wilcox flora 

FIGURE 8.-Sketch map showing creal relations of the Wilcox floras. A-A', Maximum extent of the Wilcox transgression. Localities at 

which upper Wilcox species have been collected: I, Grenada, Miss.; 2, Somerville, Tenn.; 3, near Trenton, Tenn.; 4, Wicklifl'e. and Boaz, 

Ky.; 5, Bolivar Creek, Hardys Mill, and other localities on Crowleys Ridge, Ark.; 6, Benton and Malvern, Ark.; 7, several localities at or 

near Shreveport, La.; 8, Coushatta, La.; 9, around Mansfield and Na.borton, La.; 10, Sabine River; 11, Old Port Caddo Landing, Tex.; 

12, Calaveras Creek, Tex. · 

Distribution of jlorules found at Earle and Sayersville, Tex:· 

d g ~ g ~ 

@ g ~ ~ ai ~ ~ ~ -~ ~ ~ 0 0 ~ .g <ll ~ ~ !3 

~ · <:) 

~ 

~ ~ ~ ' .g d 

~ ~ = . Q?d ~ ~ or::l 

~ :s: ·a.~ "CO Q?.~ i ~~ ·~~ g 

~ ~ .sl ~ g p~ <ll 

~ Q? 

~ Q? "C I> 

~ § Q 

~ ~ ~ "C A ~ g ~ § <ll <ll Sl A <ll 

ri1 "(/). H p ~ A ~ ~ ::;t H A ------------------- - ---- Asimina eocenica___________________________ X X ---- ---- ____ ---- X X X (?) ---- ---- ----

~f~~~%~~~~~ffl~~~~====================== --x- -~- ==== ==== ==== -~- ==== ==== ==== ==== --x- ==== ==== Dolichites deussenL ________________________ X ____ --'-- ____________ ------------ ____ ------------

Ficuspost-trinervis. ·----------------------- ____ (?) ____________ ---- ---- -------- ____ X -----·--- Ficus denveriana ___________________________ X ________ ---- X ·X X X -------- (?) X _;.. __ Ficus occidentalis_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _ _ _ _ X _ _ _ _ X X X ---- ---.:. ---- ---- ---- -- __ 

i~c:r~:P;;;rdi~~~~========================== ~ -X-====-~-======================== -X-====-(?)- Mespilodaphne precoushatta________ _________ ____ X ________________ ------------ ---- ---- ---- ----

Platanus aceroides latifolia ________ '""--------- X ________________ X ---------------------------- Pourouma texana_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X X ____________ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Rhamnus marginatus apiculatus ___________________ (?) X X X ---- ---- .:. ___ ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Rhamus SP-------------------------------- ____ X ____________ -------------------------------- Sapindus? SP--------------------------,.------- ____ X ____________ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Terminalia hilgardiana______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X X 

Terminalia lesleyana ___________________ ·_____ ____ X 

Viburnum sp _____ . ________ :... _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X 

X X X X ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----~----

-~- -~- -~- -~- ==== ====,==== ==== ==~= ==== ==== 
AN EARLY EOCENE FLORULE FROM CENTRAL TEXAS. 91 

Asplenium? primero Knowlton. 

Plate XXIII, Figure 1. 

Asplenium? primero Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 101, p. 285, pl. 44, fig. 4, Hh7. 

This species was based on the single specimen figured hy Knowlton, which came from 

the Raton formation at Primero, Colo. It is 

described as follows by Knowlton: 

Frond broadly lanceolate in general outline, twice 

pinnatifid; pinnae alternate, approximate, the lower 

ones lanceolate, the middle and upper ones linear, all 

decurrent on the rachis; lower pinnae deeply cut into 

numerous acute teeth, these becoming less and less 

marked until in the upper part they are merely slight 

indentations or at the extreme tip are wholly absent; 

nervation relatively simple, consisting of a strong midrib or secondary rachis in the pinnae, from which arise 

secondary branches passing to the tips of the segments 

or teeth, each of these again with from two to four pairs 

of simple branches. 

A single specimen from Sayersville appears 

to rep resent a portion of the dis tal part of_ a 

pinna of this species. The venation is obscure, · but the ~ize and disposition of the 

pinnules and their characteristically toothed 

margins render the identification satisfactory. 

There are eight species of ferns recorded from 

the Wilcox, two of which have been referred 

to the genus .Asplenium, but both of these are 

quite unlike .Asplenium? primero. 

Mespilodaphne precoushatta Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XXIII, Figure 2. 

Leaves of medium size; relatively broad, oval 

in general outline, widest medianly, and tapering about equally to the apex and base. Apex 

cuneate. Base acute. Margins entire, rather 

regularly and evenly rounded. Texture coriaceous. Length about 9.25 centimeters, maximum width about 4.1 centimeters. Petiole 

long and stout, about 2 centimeters in length. 

Midrib stout, prominent. Secondaries mediumly stout and prominent, eight or nine some-:-

what irregularly spaced pairs; closely spaced 

and opposite in the base, less closely spaced and 

subparallel to about the middle, above which 

they are about twice as far apart; they diverge 

from the midrib at angles of more than 45° and 

are camptodrome in the marginal region. Occasionally a subsecondary runs midway between and subparallel to the adjacent secondaries in the apical part of the leaf, where the 

true secondaries are more widely spaced, and 

one basal secondary shows abnormal branching. 

An apparently characteristic feature of this 

species is the crowding of the lower secondaries 

in the basal part of the leaf. The tertiaries are 

thin, transverse, and either percurrent ·or 

anastomosing. 

This well-marked species appears to have. 

been the immediate precursor of the rather 

abundant late middle and upper Wilcox 

species Mespilodaphne coushatta Berry. 9 It 

differs from that species in its larger size, 

slightly more coriaceous texture, relatively 

shorter petiole, more numerous secondaries, 

less frequently anastomosing tertiaries, and 

basal crowding of the secondaries. It is confined to the locality at Sayersville, in Bastrop 

County. 

Terminalia lesleyana (Lesquereux) Berry. 

Plate XXIII, Figure 3. 

Magnolia lesleyana Lesque:reux, Am. Philos. Soc. 

Trans., vol. 13, p. 421, pl. 21, figs. 1, 2, 1869; 

Tertiary flora, p. 248, pl. 44, figs. 1-3, 1878. 

Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 101, 

p. 313, pl. 82, figs: 1-2, 1918. 

Terminalia lesleyana Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 91, p. 323, pl. 89, fig. 4, 1916. 

The type horizon -for this species was the 

lower Wilcox or Ackerman formation in 

Mississippi, but it has since been found to 

range into the middle and upper Wilcox and 

was a fairly common coastal tree along the 

shores of the Wilcox Mississippi · embayment. 

It has also been recorded from the Raton 

formation of Colorado and New Mexico by 

both Lesquereux and Knowlton. I regard the 

Raton formation as older than the Wilcox, and 

it is therefore not surprising that ·. this species 

should turn up in the present association in an 

area nearer the western occurrences than it 

has been hitherto found. 

As Knowlton accepts Lesquereux's reference 

of this species to the genus Magnolia a few 

comments may not be out of place. Hilgard 

submitted his early collections from Mississippi, 

from what has since been named the Ackerman 

formation, to Lesquereux, who identified the 

present species as a Terminalia, and it was so_ 

listed in Hilgard's report. 10 When the similar 

9 Berry, E. W., The lower Eocene floras of southeastern North America: 

U. S. Geol. Survey _Prof. Paper 91, p. 307, pl. 80, fig. 6; pl. 87, fig. 3, 

1916. 

10 Hilgard, E. W., Report on the geology and agriculture of the State 

ofMississippi, p. 113, 1860. 
92 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1923-1924. 

leaves that have since been considered to represent this species were collected in the Fishers 

Peak region of New :Mexico from what has 

since been named the Raton fonnation, 

Lesquereux considered then1 identical with the 

European fossil species Terminalia radobojensis 

Heer. Subsequently Lesquereux transferred 

them to the genus .... Magnolia, comparing them 

with the existing species ~Magnolia tripetala. 

1\;nen I was preparing the report on the vVilcox 

flora I cmnparecl these fossil leaves with those 

of the existing species of both Jlfagnolia and 

Terminalia and reached the conclusion that in 

every essential respect they differed from the 

former and resembled the latter. I therefore 

transferred them back to Terminalia thus 

confirming Lesquereux's original determination. I also reached the conclusion that a 

considerable number of fossil species which 

masquerade in the literature of paleobotany as 

Afagnolia probably do not represent that genus. 

Terminalia lesleyana is not, in my judgment, 

particularly like Magnolia tripetala in any 

features. Although smaller, it is stouter, 

coarser, and smoother, with a different shape 

and different base from any of the true :Magnolias. The n1idrib is very stout, as are also the 

fewer secondaries-in fact, the venation is not 

that of the genus Afagnolia. On the other 

hand, in all the features that are available for 

comparison it resembles the leaves of several 

recent American species of Terminalia, as well 

as certain European Tertiary species that have 

been referred to that genus. 11oreover, American Tertiary floras of warmer climatic aspects 

contain several other species of Terminalia, in 

more than one locality represented by fruits 

that supplement and corroborate the identifications of the leaves. 

Term,inalia, represented by one species 

founded on fruits and two founded on leaves, 

is common in the Wilcox of the Mississippi 

embayment, and it is also represented in that 

region throughout the middle (Claiborne) and 

upper (Jackson) Eocene. 

Terminalia lesleyana occurs at the Sayersville locality, in Bastrop County, but the associated Terminalia hilgardiana is present at 

both Sayersville and Earle, .and both species 

are found throughout the lower, middle, and 

upper Wilcox of the eastern Gulf region. 
U. S .. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 132 PLATE XXIII 

1 

2 

FOSSIL PLANTS FROM THE EARLY EOCENE AT SAYERSVILLE, TEX. 

1. Asplenium? primero Knowlton. 2. Mespilodaphne precou.~hatta Berry, n. sp, 3. Terminalia lesley ana (Lesquereux) Berry