Please 4« ae* destroy or throw away this publication, 

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STATES DEPARTMENT o» THE INTERIOR 

Bay Lyntan Wttbor, Secretiry

GEOLOGICAL SUBVET 

G<*rg» Otft Smith, Di«d»t

Professional Paper 15$—H

THE FLORA OF THE FRO^IER

BY

EDWARD WILBER

Shorter contributions to general ge»I»gy, 1929

i

(Pages IB-135) ;

WASHINGTON
CONTENTS

Page

Introduction...______________________________________________________________________________--------_---__ 129

Correlation of Fremont County with Lincoln County Frontier____________________--___-__--__----------------_--_- 129

Age indicated by the flora__________________________________________________________-_-__-_____-_____---____-__ 130

Composition of the flora_____________________________________________________________________________________ 130

Environmental conditions indicated_________________________________________________-_______-__-______________-_ 131

Systematic descriptions.____________________________________________________________________________________ 132

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

PI.ATES 20-21. Flora of the Frontier formation__________________..__._________________.______ 132 

n
THE FLORA OF THE FRONTIER FORMATION

By EDWARD WILDER BERRY

INTRODUCTION

In 1917 the late F. H. Knowlton described a flora 

from the Frontier formation of southwestern Wyoming. 1 

This description was based upon collections made in 

the vicinity of Cumberland, in Lincoln County, by 

John-C. Fremont in 1843, by A. C. Veateh in 1906, by 

T. W. Stanton and F. H. Knowlton in 1908, by A. C. 

Peale in 1909, and by T. W. Stanton in 1913. Knowlton enumerated 25 species, representing 7 ferns, 1 

equisetum, 1 monocotyledon, and 16 dicotyledons.

In the last few years N. H. Brown, of Lander, Wyo., 

has sent in several small collections of plants from the 

Frontier formation of the Wind River Basin, in Fremont County, Wyo. These collections were obtained 

within a 6-mile radius of Lander and have resulted in 

the addition of nine species to this flora, several of 

which are of especial interest and serve to give a much 

clearer evaluation of it in terms of chronology and 

environment than was before possible. The present 

contribution is devoted to a description of these 

additional species in the northeasterly extension of the 

formation and to a discussion of the age and environmental conditions indicated by the flora as a whole. I 

am much indebted to Mr. Brown for his sustained 

interest in this and other problems of western 

Wyoming.

The Frontier formation in its wider extent is a thick 

series of sandstone beds with a few conglomeratic 

lenses, with shale and coal beds, and containing, above 

the middle, beds of long, slender oysters (Ostrea 

soUniscus) and a small but characteristic marine fauna 

of Benton age. The plants from Lincoln County came 

from a thin whitish clay in a 30-foot light-colored clay 

shale of considerable lateral extent about 1,200 feet 

below the top of the Oyster Eidge sandstone member, 

which underlies the Kemmerer coal. This fine-grained 

matrix accounts for the excellent preservation of the 

plants described by Knowlton. The plant-bearing 

exposures of the Frontier formation in the Wind River 

Basin are the normal coarse basal sandstones, and, 

except for the coriaceous forms such as the Nilsonia and 

ProtopTiyUocladus, the plants are poorly preserved.

1 Knowlton, F. H., A fossil flora from the Frontier formation of southwestern 

Wyoming: U. S. Qeol. Survey Prof. Paper 108, pp. 73-107, pis. 27-39, 1917.

61456°—29

It would seem that tte JferntifigfttFmatiQii as a swhole 

and in a general way rej@0fds t ^ jbransition from continental swamp and river deposits through littoral deposits to shallow marine deposits. The beds near 

Lander from which the present collections were made 

form the basal, sandstone of the Frontier as there identified and appear to me to be of (continental origin and 

partly wind-laid, either in the lower part of a stream 

valley or in depressions of a beach ridge. I would aot 

expect this phase to have been necessarily of any great 

extent or to have resulted in arn^y unit thiefeness, 

predominance of coriaceous ^ ^rms, thV 

which they were bijried, an4 to a 

the botanical character of the species identified til 

point in this direction. ;• i- s, * ^

CORRELATION OF FREMONT

COUNTY TBONTIEB / v

Although the more delicate species record©! 

Lincoln County have not been found in. 

County, especially most of the femsy there can be BO 

very great difference in the age of the plants from th« 

two areas. Thisis proved by the p>f esenee in Fremont 

County of the following forms described By' Kiiowl ton 

as occurring in Lincoln County and not known from any 

other horizons :

Anemia fremoati Knowlton. 

Cinnamomum? sp. Knowlton, 

Dryopbyllum laneeolatum <K»pwiton) Berry. 

Ficus fremonti Knowlton,. 

Ficus? sp. Knowlton.

The fact that the plants found in the Frontier of 

Lincoln County are associated with representatives 

of Benton invertebrates, jfliereas ia Fremont County 

the plants were foiuwl ia the basal sandstone and the 

larger part of the Frontier above the plant hoiizoo copg 

tains Niobrarft, inverti6lMpate%? suggests that tlf$ |Pr0- 

mont County i plants may be slightly yoragic than 

those from Lincoln, County, although the range of the 

plants in the two areas rather, points' to just the opposite conclusion.

The matrix of the plant mateflal of the Frontier 

formation in Fremont County varies in its Ijthology 

from a coarse friable massive grayish sandstoaf to a

2 Stanton, T. W., personal conuouaication.

129
130 SHOETER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENES Ai GSCJIjOCttr,

finer more or less brownish or yellowish sandstone with 

a considerable intermixture of mudstone. In the finer 

material the leaf laminae are not parallel with one another nor usually flat but are more or less contorted— 

a condition usually ascribed to eolian sedimentation. 

The forms here described were associated with some 

fragments of fishbones, which are not precluded from 

occurrence in wind-blown deposits, because piscivorous 

birds can be relied upon to drop the bones on land surfaces near their fishing resorts or nesting places.

AGE INDICATED BY THE FLORA

In Knowlton's discussion of the age of the flora from 

Lincoln County he pointed out that, although all the 

plants were peculiar to the horizon and localities at 

which they were collected, their affinities seemed to be 

with post-Colorado forms. A part of his statement 3 is 

worth quoting in the present connection:

The spleenwort (Asplenium occidentale) belongs to the same 

group as and is pretty closely related to an unpvi blished species 

from the Farmington sandstone member of the Kirtland shale 

(Montana group) of San Juan County, N. Me:j. The shield 

fern (Dryopteris coloradensis) is strongly suggestive of an 

unpublished species from the Vermejo formation of the Raton 

Mesa region of Colorado and New Mexico. r ?he Anemia is 

very closely related to and perhaps identical with a species common in the Eocene of Europe but also reported Torn the Montana at Point of Rocks, Wyo. Among the dicotj ledons, Cinnamomum hesperium is hardly distinguishable, exce; >t in size, from 

Cinnamomum wardii, from the upper part of tkeAdaville formation at Hodges Pass, a few miles north of tie Cumberland 

localities. Dewalquea pulchetta and Dryandroides lanceolate, are 

so close to Dewalquea insignis and Dryandroides quercinea, 

respectively, from the upper Senonian of Westplialia, that it is 

perhaps doubtful if they should be maintained as distinct. 

Quercus stentoni is very similar to Quercus formosa, also from the 

Senonian of Westphalia. Ficus fremonti agrees in shape with

Ficus proteoides Lesquereux and in shape, size,

with Ficus lanceolate, acuminata Ettingshausen, 

Lesquereux, from the Dakota sandstone. Thts is the only 

species that appears to show any special likeness to forms from 

beds whose position is lower than that assigned tc the plant beds 

at Cumberland.

and 

-Colorado

The only one of the nine additional Frontier 

discovered in the Wind Elver Basin that 

the preceding statement is the Sequoia, 

like the Judith

bachi. Of the remaining eight species 

indicates nothing with respect to age, 

seven represent a distinctly prewhich survived into Colorado time. '. 

represents a type which had its origin in 

reached its maximum in the Jurassic, and 

ing the Upper Cretaceous. No species 

characteristic as the Frontier form has b 

rocks as young as these.

The other six species were all describsd originally 

from the Dakota sandstone or recorded from it by

species 

falls in with 

which is most 

River remains referred to S& luoia reichen-

:he Sabalites 

the other 

element 

'he NUsonia 

the Triassic, 

lied out durlarge 01 as 

en found in

• Knowlton, F. H., op. cit., p. 77.

and nervation 

as figured by

as

Lesquereux, and the Sterculia is abundant in the 

eolian sandstones of the still earlier Cheyenne sandstone of southern Kansas. It is true that several of 

these species have been found to have a considerable 

time range and are not confined to pre-CoJorado horizons. For example, the ProtopJiyUocladiig is found 

outside the Western Interior in beds as young as tae 

Montana group, but its type occurrence was in tlie 

Dakota sandstone, which was its latest known occurrence in the West prior to its discovery in tH frontier. 

The PhyUites crassipes and Ficus inaegualis were similarly confined to the Dakota sandstone in tl °s West but 

ranged to higher horizons in the Atlantic Coastal Plain 

and Greenland. If the indications of age furnished by 

these additions to the Frontier flora are integrated with 

the age indications, as quoted above, of the plants from 

Lincoln County, the result agrees perfectly both with 

the age indications of the Frontier invertebrates and 

also with our expectations of what a Colorado flora 

would be like. That is to say, it shows a facies of its 

own but consists in part of forms derive'! from the 

Dakota and others praenuncial of later Upper Cretaceous floras. This same statement is true vith respect 

to floras of Colorado age from western Canada whicM I 

have studied: Anemia Jremonti of the Frontier is also 

found in the Sukunka formation of British Columbia.

COMPOSITION OF THE FLORA

The flora from the Frontier formation now numbers 

34 species, representing 24 genera in 16 fairilies and 15 

orders, as listed below.

Arthrophyta: 

Equisetales:

Equisetaceae:

Equisetum sp. Knowlton. 

Pteridophyta:

Polypodiales:

Polypodiaceae:

Tapeinidium? undulatum (Hall) Koowlton. 

Microtaenia variabtiis Knowlton. 

Microtaenia paueifolia (Hall) Knowlton. 

Dennstaedtia? fremonti (Hall) Knowlton. 

Dryopteris eoloradensis Knowlton. 

Asplenium occidental© 

Anemia fremonti Knowltoa. 

Cycadophyta:

Williamsoniales: ; ;

Nilsonia nwfali Berry, & '~d&. "] "3 - Coniferophyta: _ '• - ' ; '"••"-".-- • '~ 

Sequoia reichenbaehi (Gdaitz) Beer. ' 

Protophyllocladus subintegrifoMus (Lesquereux) Berry. 

Angiospermophy ta : 

Monocotyledonae :

Arecales: , Arecaceae:

Sabalites sp. 

Liliales?:

Smilacaceae? :

Smilax? coloradensis Knowlton.

"** ^ '
•mm FLOB& OF THE

Angiogpermophyta—Continued. 

Dicoty ledonae: 

Myricales:

Myricaceae: ,

Myriea nervosa Knowlton. 

Salicales:

Salicaceae:

Salix cumberlandensis Knowlton. 

Salix frontierensis Knowlton. 

Fagales:

Fagaceae:

Quercus stantoni Knowlton. , 

Dryophyllum lanceolatum (Knowlton) Berry. 

Urticales:

Moraceae:

Ficus fremonti Knowlton. 

Ficus inaequalis Lesquereux. ! 

Ficus? sp., Knowlton. 

Ficus?.sp., Knowlton. 

Sapindales:

Staphyleaceae:

Staphylea? fremonti Knowlton. 

Malvales:

Sterculiaceae:

Sterculia towneri (Lesquereux) Berry 

Laurales: 

! Lauraceae:

Cinnamomum hesperium Knowlton. 

CinnamomumV sp., Knowlton. 

Umbellales: 

Araliaceae:

Aralia veatehii Knowlton. 

Position uncertain:

Dewalquea pulehella Knowlton.

Phyllites flcifolius Knowlton.

Phyllites grandifolius-cretaceus (Lesc[uereux)

Berry.

Phyllites cretaceus (Ettinghausen) Barry. 

Phyllites crassipes (Heer) Berry. 

Phyllites dentata Knowlton. 

Phyllites sp. Knowlton..

The Arthrophyta are represented by a single rather 

indifferently preserved species of Eguisetum. The 

ferns furnish seven species in six genera, and al except 

the Anemia are confined to the region around Cumberland, in Lincoln County. These ferns are perhaps the 

most interesting element in this flora; the Tapeinidium 

is closely related to existing Malaysian and Po] 

forms; the two species of Microtaenia are uni 

without any close relatives among existing da 

ferns; the Dennstaedtia is not certainly dete: 

the material is fragmentary. The genus is 

ingly represented in the geologic record and 

previously known from horizons earlier than t 

Union. The Dryopterisf Asplenium, and Anemi 

be expected anywhere in the Upper Cretaceous 

require no comment.

The -cycads are represented by the 

species of Nttsonia, which has already been referred to. 

Coniferophytes constitute a very minor elemen; in the 

flora, being represented by only a very few twigs of 

Sequoia and the more abundant phylloclads of the more

armm 

on 7

iniesian 

ue and 

allioid 

ed, as 

sparas not 

.e Fort 

i are to 

and

remarkable 

referred

131

or less probJenatitiCv.^^<^%^^c/^^M8. Upper Cetaceous floras iiiigen^^dt ooa^aM a^iatively great variety 

of conifers, and ^A<&$*$NrxeMN)0& that may be 

advanced for tne» aeemiog rarity in the Frontier— 

namely, unfavorable environmental conditions or lack 

of discovery—experience .indicates that the latter w 

probably the true explanatioa and that we may look 

forward to finding eventual!j, a much, better repri'*8©a* 

tation of this class of plants. ... ^

The angiosperms eomprjse |hsr» moaoeotyledopi and; 

twenty-two dicotyledons. One 0f the monocotyledons, 

is of uncertain affinities* ;p» forp, wfajck I have r%|, 

ferred tentatively to S&fyajKtm k certainly a palm, _btt|l 

the form which Knowltoa relerreid teatatively tb &r£fa$j, 

is not a Smilax, ia my opinion, and there is some 

even of its being Bionocotyi@i<mous.

The dicotyledons are m BO way, remarkable, 

represent such, genera as Jffriea, Sfttix, 

Ficus, Sterculia,, Ar&tm^ PkyOM.es, and 

which are common elements in most Upper Ci 

floras, commencing with those of Cenojoaaia%j 

Several of the aicotyledojas^reootrded from the iW* 

formation are of rather doubtful value, notajbjy 

forms which Knowlton described as 

momumf sp., and PJm/ttites.

ENvmoNMunpAt comawoNi

The occurrence of nuaaefous tiubk aad 

beds of coal in the B*rootier fonafttioa is a 

indication of a humid climate at the time of their: 

tion, and the known, flora points in the same direction, 

especially that facies found ia the clays ia 

of Cumberland, The plant® found ia 

County, although they do not indicate any, 

climate, seem to me ia part to indicate less humid conditions, which I would interpret as due aot to a lessened 

rainfall but to their having grown on beach*"' of 

between dunes along a coast where insolation was high, 

winds were rather constant, and the sandy surface was 

apt to afford a less constant water table or oae h 

cient to keep pace with the increased evaporator 

to insolation and wind. I regard the NUsonia^ F 

phyUocladus, BryophyUum, and Stertndia as Hfag 

especially indicative of such, an environment. Their 

coriaceous nature points in the same direction, and 

both Dryophyllum and Sterculia occur frequent!^ as 

fossils in. exactly this environment—'Dryoj^flitm^ in 

beach and dune deposits ia the sands of AJx44-Cfcapd3e, 

along the shores of the lower Eocene JParis Basin, and 

in the Mississippi GuM einbayngteat, 

Cheyenne and Dakote sandstones,

Knowlton concluded that the climate of 

time was tropical or subtropical, basing: 1^ 

on the indeterminate ^twtli of 

other davallioid ferns present aacl 

of Ficus and l&R^fig&mafe, As I
TO GENERAL GEOLOGY,

pointed out, the universal tendency among paleobotanists is to demand tropical climates. If we consider 

the latitudinal range of the commoner Upper Cretaceous genera we either, like Knowlton, who followed 

Manson, accept a wholly impossible climatic control, 

or else, like Koppen and Wegener, we predicate a wandering pole. The number of plants as yet known from 

the Frontier formation is entirely too small to warrant 

any attempt to put forward an elaborate climatic discussion, but a few remarks are not inappropriate. In 

the first place, most discussions of climate that have 

been based on fossil organisms fail to differentiate 

between the geographic occurrence of the most closely 

related existing forms and the actual climate in which 

they live. Every country in the tropical zone is assumed to have a tropical climate, whereas, as a matter 

of fact, the altitudinal climatic zones in the Tropics may 

run up to those of Arctic conditions, as they do in all 

the Andean countries of South America. The plants 

most commonly thought of as tropical—these Frontier 

davallioid ferns, for example, or tree ferns in general— 

find their optimum modern conditions in temperate 

rain forests, not in tropical lowlands. We can only 

infer the climatic requirements of such wholly extinct 

Frontier genera as Nilsonia and ProtophyUodadus, but 

of the Frontier genera that are represented in existing 

floras—namely, Equisetum, Sequoia, Myrica, Salix, 

Quercus, DryophyUum, Ficus, Stdphylea, Sterculia, 

Cinna/momum, and Aralia—some are decidedly temperate types, Equisetum and Salix extending into the Arctic zone, and none are out of place in a warm temperate 

climate.

As already stated, the Frontier plants are too few to 

afford the basis for a more conclusive analysis, but my 

inference would be that they indicate a warm temperate 

and not a subtropical or tropical climate.

SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTIONS

Phylum CYCADOPHYTA

Order WILUAMSONIAIES

Genus NILSONIA Brongniart

Nilsonia mehli Berry, n. sp.

Plate 20

Petiole preserved for a length of 22 centimeters below 

the lamina. Something less than basal half of lamina 

preserved, amounting to 18 centimeters. Nine pinnules. Maximum width of lamina 9.5 centimeters. 

Pinnules falcate, the lower six Pterophyttum-like, 

uniformly 13 to 14 millimeters wide, increasing in 

length upward. The seventh pinnule is 3 centimeters 

wide, the eighth 2.5 centimeters, and the ninth similar 

but partly broken. The basal pinnule is pointed, the 

tip being close to the distal margin and the proximal

margin forming an arc. The second plnftn1 ^ is touch 

less cut away below, and each succeeding o^e upward 

is more truncate, the outer edge of the wide*' pinnules 

being almost parallel with the rachis, the obiter distal 

corner being obtusely pointed and the outer proximal 

corner being rounded off. The rachis is c* medium 

size, about 4 millimeters in diameter as preserved. 

The pinnules are inserted in the center of its upper face. 

The veins are stout, immersed in the coriaceous substance, closely spaced, and parallel with one another 

and with the lateral margins of the pinnules, f houfc 26 in 

number in the narrower pinnules and similarly spaced 

in the wider. Species named for Dr. M. G. Mehl, of 

the University of Missouri, who assisted Brown in the 

collection and shipment of the material.

This handsome species is much the largest known 

from so young a horizon. The exact locality is the 

NW. % sec. 17, T. 6 N., R. 3 W. Wind River meridian. 

The genus appears in the Triassic, is especially characteristic of the Rhaetic and Oolitic, and may be said to be 

cosmopolitan in the Jurassic. It was less abundant 

but still widely distributed in Lower Cretaceous time, 

being recorded from all the continents except Africa. 

It became rare in the Upper Cretaceous but is represented by several undoubted species—three in Japan, 

two on Sakhalin Island, one in the Atane beds of. western Greenland, and one in the Cenomanian of Bohemia. 

These other Upper Cretaceous forms are mostly small 

and more delicate, the Greenland form being the most 

robust but prevailingly entire instead of loiKte. The 

form most similar to this Frontier species is Nilsonia 

densinervis (Fontaine) Berry,4 of the Lower Cretaceous 

(Patuxent and Arundel formations) of th°> Atlantic 

Coastal -Plain. This is somewhat narrower and often 

entire; when lobate the lobes are narrower «nd somewhat different in outline but essentially similar, in 

venation.

The genus was established by Brongniart in 1825 on 

material from the Rhaetic of Sweden and, ha^ been discussed at length by Saporta, Nathorst, Seward, and 

others. It may be characterized in the following terms: 

Frond coriaceous, elongate-lanceolate, entire or commonly more or less deeply pinnatifid by t4ng spHt, 

usually to the rachis, into a number of more or less 

irregular segments which are contiguous, usr<*Uy broad 

and truncate. Lamina attached to the upper surface of 

the rachis, the simple and parallel, equal lateral veins 

running almost or quite to the median line. In material 

showing only the under surface of the fronds the stout 

midrib is prominent and unsegmented specimens are 

scarcely distinguishable from Taeniopteris and alEed 

forms; the segmented varieties approach Anomozamifes or even some species of PterophyUum in appear-?

ance.

4 Berry, E. W., Maryland Oeol. Survey, Lower Cretaceous, p. 36% pis, 67, 58, 

1911.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 158 PLATE 20

FLORA OF THE FRONTIER FORMATION 

Nilsonia mehli Berry, n. sp.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 158 PLATE 21

FLORA OF THE FRONTIER FORMATION

1, 2, 4, Protophyllocladus subintegrifolius (Lesquereux) Berry; 3, Ficus inaequalis Lesquereux. An undeterminable leaf of

Ficus is shown associated with Figure 4.
- fHl KX>RA. OF "THE

Phylum CONIFEROPHYTA

Order PIKALES

Family CUPEESSIWACEAE

Genus SEQUOIA EndHcher

Sequoia reichenbachi (Geinitz) Heer

Sequoia reichenbachi Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 257, p. 

131, pi. 14, figs. 3-5,1905.

There are a few rather poorly preserved coniferous 

twigs in the Frontier sandstones, and these are identical 

with the rather common coniferous twigs in the Judith 

River formation which Knowlton referred to this 

world-wide and protean species. I am not at all certain that they are identical botanically with other 

occurrences—in fact, the wide range, both in time and 

space, of Sequoia rewhenbachi strongly suggests that it 

is a composite species.

The identity of the present specimens with the Judith 

River specimens furnishes an element in which the 

Frontier flora resembles younger floras.

Occurrence: Sec. 8, T. 32 N., R. 99 W., 6miles southsoutheast of Lander.

.Family PHYILOCLADACEAE?

Genus PBOTOPHYLLOCLADUS Berry

Protophyllocladus subintegrifolius (Lesquereux) Berry

Plate 21, Figures 1, 2, 4

Protophyllocladus subintegrifolius Berry, Torrey Bot. Club 

Bull., vol. 30, p. 440, 1903; vol. 31, p. 69, pi. I, fig. 5, 

1904; New Jersey State Geologist Ann. Rept. for 1905, 

p. 139, 1906; Maryland Geol. Survey, Upper Cretaceous, p. 796, pi. 56, fig. 2, 1916; U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 112, p. 57, 1919; Johns Hopkins Circ. 199, 

pp. 89-91, fig. 6, 1907.

Kryshtofovich, Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Tokyo Jour., vol.

40, art. 8, p. 41, fig. 6, 1918.

Pkyttocladus subintegrifolius Lesquereux, Am. Jour. SeL, vol. 

46, p. 92, 1868; The Cretaceous flora, p. 54, pi. 1, fig. 

12, 1874; U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 17, p. 34, pi. 2, figs. 

1-3, 1892.

Thinnfeldia lesqvweuxiana Heer, Flora fossUig arcttca, vol. 6, 

Abt. 2, p. 37, pi. 44, figs. 9, 10; pi. 46, figs. 11, 12 a, b, 

1882.

Hollick, New York Acad. Sei. Trans., vol. 11, p. 99, pi. 

3, fig. 6, 1892; New York Aead. Sci. Annals, vol. 11, p. 

58, pi. 3, figs. 4, 5, p. 419, pi. 36,'fig. 6, 1898; New York 

Bot. Garden Bull., vol. 2, p. 403, pi. 41, figs. 13, 14, 

1902; U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 50, p. 36, pi. 5, figs. 1-6, 

1907.

Newberry, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 26, p. 59, pi. 11, 

figs. 1-17, 1895.

This species was discussed by me at some length in 

1903 and 1907 and need not be redescribed in the 

present connection. It was described originally by 

Lesquereux, who referred it to the existing genus 

PhyUodadus. Heer subsequently recorded it from 

the Atane beds of western Greenland and transferred 

it to the genus Thinnfeldia of Ettingshausen. In 

1903 I showed that it could not be related to 

Thinnfeldia and proposed the new genus ProtophyUodadus for its reception. Before and since it

has been shown 

half of the Upp^r Gr 

from Massaelrasefti®,

Maryland, and Alabama ia has country and ftnm 

Russian Sakhalin in eastern !J tsiav Three additional 

species have been d 

lolatus Berry, from the Mage thy. Black Creek, axttl

and. South Car»lfni4 

and P. lane&Aplm^ 

(Lesquerrttl 

lavingstoft forma

Jbse Frontier 

the Dakota

Ripley formations ia Mary:

and Tennessee, respectively*

(Knowlton) Berry and

Berry, from the Eagle and

of Montana. The spedb* %

in the recent eoUeetioa from

'and agrees in every detail ^4td

types from Kansas and Nebraska.

shows a possible tendency tx ward lobation, but it

happens to be poorly preserve aad iwleeisive. This

habit is well marked in the I.arit&n material of the

species and may therefore

special significance. The soia

Plain species, P. fabatus, fe

tendency toward lobation is a.so seen in some

mens of P. pdymorpkus.

In view of the great range i i mm of the speeizr 

from the Frontier formation 

be a single reliable character

subintegrifolms from P. polynorpkus and P. 

ceolatus, and I am inclined to t link aQ three repri 

a single lojig-lived botanic species. The precise 1 

tionship of ProtopJtyTJ&eladus las never been settled.' 

After havujig handled a large'aiftount of material I ata

of my original opinion that it 

erous and probably related 

PhyUodadits.

Occurrence: Sec. 8, T. 32 

^south-soutaeasi of Lander.

Phylum AKGIOSPEE ffOPHYTA 

Class MOKOCOTY1J5DONAE 

ABIC^IES

AEECAJEAf

Sapoita

ob

Order 

FamUy

Genus SABAIITEi 

Sabalites

The recent collections coin kin 

specimens that undoubtedly re; 

of a fan palm, which are tent lively 

genus 'Sabdliles. They were 

southeast ojf Lander, in sec.^8,

Class

Order

Genus DBYOPHYLIUM 

DryophyHma

Dryandroides fomeedfe

Paper 108, p. 8B, pi, 34* fig.7,

This form, which is confined 

Lincoln County, Wyo*, was

BICOTYIE: >O»AE

FA0AJES

range in the 

having been 

York, New

nsidered to be without 

younger Coastal 

lobate. A

does not seetr to 

for differentiating P.

is undoubtecBy conif. 

the existing geiius

ST. R n W., 6 nf*tes

yery fragment 

resent the broken r*»vs 

referred to the 

tained 6 oodles ®>r*li-

.32 N. n:m w.

5ji0w!ton) Berry

£ 81- Getf 

1147. - ' • -„ -

the type locality in 

kentified by
134 TO GENERAL GEOLOGt,:

as a species of Dryandrmdes, a genus usually referred to 

the family. JProteaceae an4 supposed to be related to the 

gemrnXhyandra of the present Australian region.

Qryandroides has been recorded from a considerable 

number of regions in both Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary strata, but its botanic relationship has always 

been a matter of much difference of opinion among 

botanists. This is happily removed in the case of the 

present form by reason of the fact that it is not Dryandroides but belongs to the fagalean genus DryophyUum. 

I have had the good fortune to handle a large amount of 

excellently preserved material of DryophyUum, and this 

Frontier plant is surely a member of that genus.

Occurrence: Sec. 8, T. 32 N., R. 99 W., 6 miles southsoutheast of Lander.

Order URTICALES 

Family MORACEAE

Genus FICUS linne

Ficus inaequalis Lesquereux

Plate 21, Figure 3

Ficus inaequalis Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 17, p. 82,

pi. 49, figs. 6-9; pi. 50, fig. 3, 1892.

Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 34, p. 194, pi. 12, figs. 2, 

3,1907; U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 112, p. 80, pi. 12, 

fig. 1,1919.

This species was described by Lesquereux from the 

Dakota sandstone near Fort Harker, Kans., and was 

subsequently recorded by me from the Black Creek 

formation of North Carolina and the Tuscaloosa formation of Alabama.

As the Black Creek formation is considerably younger 

than either the Dakota or Tuscaloosa there is nothing 

remarkable in the fact that this species ranges as high 

as the Frontier formation in the Colorado group. It is 

not uncommon in the Wind River Basin, but, like most 

of the dicotyledons found there, it is not especially well 

preserved.

Occurrence: Sec. 8, T. 32 N., R. 99 W., 6 miles southsoutheast of Lander.

Ficus fremonti Enowlton

Fiats fremonti Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 108, p. 

87, pi. 34, figs. 4-6; pi. 35, figs. 4c, 5,1917.

The type of this species was collected by Fremont in 

Lincoln County in 1843 and was referred to Glossopteris by Hall. It was re-collected by Knowlton and 

Stanton in 1908 at or near the type locality. It 

unquestionably represents a dicotyledon, but its 

reference to the genus Ficus is somewhat questionable.

Occurrence: I am able to add two new localities in 

Fremont County—near Westbrook quarry, southeast 

of Lander, in sec. 22, T. 33 N., R. 99 W. (collected by 

T. W. Stanton); 6 miles south-southeast of Lander, in 

sec. 8, T. 32 N., R. 99 W. (collected by N. H. Brown).

• Ftoas? *

Ficus? sp. Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Papo* 108, p. 88, 

pi. 34, figs, 2. 3, 1917.

This' form is based upon very ineoKc^lf|e> and 

questionable material, and there is no eonc 

for considering it to represent a Ficus. 

material came from Lincoln County, and it is included 

in the present report simply for the purpose of recording 

the two new localities in Fremont County.

Occurrence: Near Westbrook quarry, southeast of 

Lander, in sec. 22, T. 33 N., R. 99 W. (coDe--ted by T. 

W. Stanton) ; 6 miles south-southeast of Lanier, in sec. 

8, T. 32 N., R. 99 W. (collected by N. H, Brown),

Order MALVALES 

Family STERCUUACEAE 

Genus STERCUUA Idling r 

Sterculia towneri (Lesquereux) Berry

Sterculia towneri Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof,

217, pi. 57, fig. 1; pi. 60; pL 61, fig. 1, 1922. : ,; ;;. 

Aralia towneri Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. and Geog. fKtnrey Terr.

Bull., vol. 1, p. 394, 1875 [1876J; Ann. Eept for 1874, p.

349, pi. 4, fig. 1, 1876; Cretaceous and Tertiary floras, p.

62, pi. 6, fig. 4, 1883; U. S. Geol. Survey MO-K 17, p., 132,

pi. 23, figs. 3, 4; pi. 31, fig. 1, 1892. 

Sterculia drakei Cummings, Texas Geol. Survey Third Ann.

Kept., p. 210, fig. 8, 1892. 

Knowlton, in Hill, Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., voL 1, p. 213,

1895. 

Sterculia snowii Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 17, p. 183,

pi. 30, fig. 5; pi. 31, figs. 2, 3; pl.32, figs. 1-4, 1 892. 

Hollick, U. S. Geol. Survey Mom 50, p. 94, pi. 34, fig. 20,

1907. 

Aralia towneri Hollick, New York Acad. Sci. Tranf., vol. 16, p.

132, pi. 14, figs. 11, 12, 1897. . u 

Berry, New York Bot. Garden Bull., vol. 3, p. 92 jt||||, ..^.y

Leaves of variable and often 

mately two to seven lobed. The lolws 

conical and acuminate, occaaioaafly wieter*i% somewhat medially aid less acutely pointed, separated by 

generally open and rounded sinuses extending about 

halfway to the base. The angles that the lobes form 

with one another and the form of the sinuses- vary with 

the number of lobes, as does also the chara^ter^ of the 

base, which ranges from truncate to decurj^ftlj 

median lobe is generally slightly wider taaa 

but may be smaller. The normal form is 

The texture is so coriaceous that these le&r^s we not 

rare in coarse sediments like those of the £ <*kotft and 

Frontier sandstones or theeoliansandspf the G^ 

The margins are entire. Length 8 to 20 

maximum width 6 to 24 centimeters. Pet*^ iferat, 

usually broken away, 12 centimeters or more ittleugth. 

Midvein stout, prominent; lateral primariea.g%iit, basal 

or subbasal; secondaries thin, regularly 

todrome, usually more or less 

substance.
TfiE FLORA. OF THE FRONTHOR

This is an exceedingly Well marked species and, like 

most Sterculias, both ancient and modern, shows the 

characteristic variability of the genus. It was described originally from material collected in the Dakota 

sandstone of Kansas and occurs in the Tucumcari 

Mountains of New Mexico in beds referred to the 

Dakota. It is recorded from the Magothy formation 

of New Jersey, from rocks of the same age on Marthas 

Vineyard, and from the Cheyenne sandstone of Kansas. 

Only fragments have been found in the Frontier, but 

they are sufficiently characteristic to establish this 

species as a member of the Frontier flora.

Occurrence: Sec. 8, T. 32 N., R. 99 W., 6 miles 

south-southeast of Lander.

POSITION UNCIBTAIN 

Phyllites cretaceus (Ettingshausen) Berry

Artocarpidium cretaceum Ettingshausen, Kreideflora von Niederschoena: K. Akad. Wiss. Wien Sitzungsber., Band 55, p. 

251, pi. 2, fig. 4,1867.

Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 17, p. 86, pi. 50, fig. 7, 

1892.

Although it is highly improbable that the leaf from 

the Dakota sandstone of Kansas is identical with the 

single fragment from the Cenomanian of Austria to 

which Ettingshausen gave this name, neither shows any 

features warranting reference to the Moraceae or suggesting any relationship with Artocarpus. The type 

material did not warrant any identification and should 

not have been described, and it may well be transferred 

to the noncommital genus Pbyttites along with the leaf 

from the Dakota sandstone. The latter is complete, 

but I am unable to suggest its probable botanic affinity.

This is of interest chiefly as constituting another 

older element in the flora of the Frontier formation.

Occurrence: Sec. 8, T. 32 N., E. 99 W., 6 miles southsoutheast of Lander.

Phyllites grandifolius-cretaceus (Lesquereux) Berry

Smilax grandifolia-cretacea Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. Survey 

Mon. 17, p. 40, pi. 46, fig. 3, 1892.

Much as I dislike the pseudogeneric term Phyllites, I can see no basis for referring this leaf to the 

genus Smilax, and there are a variety of unrelated 

existing genera that have leaves of this type. The 

species was based upon a single imperfect specimen 

from the Dakota sandstone of Kansas, which apparently was compared by its describer with pictures

the works of Unger, 

not with existing

of fossil

Ettingshausen, 

leaves.

A fragmentary specimen from the Frontier is 

exactly like LesqiMar«aK*«; type except for being 

somewhat larger. If a considerable amount of material were available it wotijd b© worth the trouble 

of an extended search among existing forms to test 

the possibility of arriving afc the true botanic affinity 

In the absence of such material it is more scientific" T

to- face the fact that suelfc specimens are undeterminable botanically.

Occurrence: Flank of Table Mountain, in the 8F-. K 

sec. 8, T. 32 N., E. 99 W. • •

Phyllites erassipes (Heer) Berry

Juglaw erassipes Heer, Selrtmzefisehe Gesell. Neue B©nks'?hr^ 

Band 23, p. 23, pi. 6, fig. 3,1809; Fl*ra 

Band 7, p. 27, pi. 61, figJ 4; pi. 66, fig. 9, 1883. 

Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. Stisrey Moafc 17, p. 69, pi

,figs. 1-3, 1892. , Hollick, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 50, p. 65, pi % 

3-5, 1907.

This species was described from the 

of Moravia and-was subsequently recorded 

describer from the much younger 

western Greenland. It was identified by 

in the Dakota sandstone of Kansas and by 

in the Earitan and Magdtiky formations of tfie, J^r 

Coastal Plain.

It represents one of those fossil foliar 

are found to be common in unrelated 

and which entirely lack diagnostic generic featrras. 

There is not a shred of evidence that it is 

to JugUns, nor is there any reason for 

that the European, Gireenland, and American 

mens represent the same botanic specks. On the 

other hand, the considerable geographic and geobgic 

range is emphatically opposed to such a oonelu£J0n.

However, the recorded occurrences represent irdistinguishable remains with which the material f^>m 

the Frontier formation is identical. Beyond the 

evidence which it affords of a new type of plant in 

the Frontier flora I regard it as entirely wort! *«sii 

either botanically or ^ologieally, and I much dcmbt 

if a clue to its relationship can ever b© «l»|dmd.

Occurrence: Hank of Table Mountain, in the S\ $ 

sec. 8, T. 32 N., E. 99 W.

o