DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

HUBERT WORK~ Secretary. 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director 

Professional Paper 136 

THE FLO~A OF THE RIPLEY FO.RMATION 

BY 

EDWARD WILVER BERRY 

W A.SHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1925 
ADDITIONAL COPIES 

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM 

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GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

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AT 

50 CENTS PER COPY 
CONTENTS 

Introduction ________________________________________________________________________________ _ 

General relations of the Cretaceous deposits _____________________________________________________ _ The Ripley formation ____________________________________________ --·-- ___________ · ____________ _ 

Historical sketch _________________ .. _______________________________________________________ _ 

Areal distribution ________________________________ ~ _______________________________________ _ 

Lithologic character _____ . _________________________________________________________________ _ 

Stratigraphic relations ___________________________________________________________ ~ ________ _ 

Subdivi~ons-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Ripley flora------------------------------------~---------~-----------------------------­

Occurrence------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Composition, origin, and evolution __________________________________________________________ _ D~tribution _____________________________________________________________________________ _ 

Analysis of other Upper Cretaceous floras __________ ..: ________________________________________ _ 

General considerations ________________________________________________________________ _ 

Eutawflora--------------------------------~------------~-----------~----------------

Black Creek flora---------------------------------------~----------------------------- Magothy flora ____________________ . ___________________________________________________ _ Patoot flora __________________________________________________________________________ _ 

Verinejoflora _________________________________________ ~----------~-------------------

Vancouver Island ________________________________________________________ .:. ____________ _ 

Colorado grouP----------------------------------------------------------------------- Montana group ______________________________________________ - __ ·_- _______ · __ --- ______ _ 

Japan-----------------------------~-------------------------------------------------- Portugal _____________________________________________________________________________ · 

GermanY----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gosau flora---------------------------------------------------------------------------

France ______________________________________ ~------------~---------------------------

Syst!l~:~~~gd~:cr~~~~d~:t~~-~~-~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~-~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ IndeX---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATES I-XXIII. Upper Cretaceous plants from the Ripley formation ______________________________ _ 

FIGun.E 1. Diagrammatic section of the Cretaceous from Tennessee to Georgia, showing the time relations of the different stratigraphic units and their relation to underlying and overlying forinations _______________________________________________________________________ _ 

2. Map of North America showing the area of outcrop of the Ripley formation and the 

generalized relations of land and sea during Ripley time------------------·----~---------

3. Sketch map of the world showing the location of fossil floras that have been compared with the Ripley flora _________________________________________________________________ _ 

4. Restoration of Geonomites visianii Berry ____________________________ ----~--- ____ · ______ _ 

5. Sketch map of the world summarizing the geologic history of Liriodendron _____________ _ 

6. Sketch map of the world. summarizing the geologic history of Zizyphus _________________ _ 

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69 
1.,HE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

By EnivARD W. BERRY 

INTRODUCTION 

In 1919 the Geological Survey published an 

extensive paper by me entitled "Upper Cretaceous floras of the eastern Gulf region 

in Tennessee, Mississippi, . Alabama, and 

.Georgia." 1 Despite this .comprehensive title 

the work was. primarily an account of the 

large flora found in the Tuscaloosa formation, 

the earliest Upper Cretaceous formation in 

that region. Between the date when the 

manuscript had been transmitted, in 1912, and 

the time of publication scattered collections 

from the Eutaw and Ripley formations had 

been made, and an account of these was included in the report. Although of consider,.. 

able interest as the only known land plants of 

the Eutaw and Ripley, these plants were few: 

and not especially well preserved, as I had 

not had the good fortune to encounter in these 

formations other than very carbonaceous leafbearing clays, with drifted and consequently 

more or Jess broken materials. It was realized 

that better-preserved and more representative 

material might be found in clay lenses in the 

upper embayment, but neither Stephenson nor 

I had been successful in locating .such outcrops, and it was not until Wade's very detailed county studies for the Tennessee Geological Survey that this gap in the paleobotanic history of the Mississippi embayment 

was satisfactorily filled. All the forms known 

from the Ripley are included in the prese.nt 

contribution. The bulk of the materials have 

come from Henry and Carroll counties, in 

western Tennessee-a region that has also 

furnished the largest single florule of lower 

Eocene CVVilcox) age. . 

In the introduction to my account of the 

tJ pper Cretaceous floras of the eastern Gulf 

region I emphasized the reconnaissance nature 

1 U. S. Geol.. Survey P1·of. Paper 112, 1919. 

of the field work and ventured to predict 

that more detailed work would res'!Jlt in the 

discovery of additional fossiliferous outcrops. 

The present contribution serves to fulfil this 

prediction in part and to supply the first detailed information regarding the flora of that 

part of the Upper Cretaceous section of which 

our ignorance was most ·profound. . Both l;>iologically and geologically this information is 

of the greatest importance, because it furnishes a measure of the rate of transition 

between the Cretaceoi1s and Eocene floras, as 

well as data for. correlation and distribution. 

Spec~al acknowledgment is due to Bruce 

vVade for the industry and skill with which 

he has studied the Cretaceous of Tennessee 

·and collected the material upon. which the 

present paper is so largely based. The types 

are the property of the Johns Hopkins University, but they will be depos:ted in the 

United States National Museum as soon as 

the studies in hand are completed. 

GENERAL RELATIONS OF THE CRETACEOUS 

DEPOSITS 

The region discussed in this paper includes 

that part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain lying 

south and west of the southern Appalachian 

province and east of Mississippi River. 

The area of outcrop of the Upper Cretaceous 

deposits borders the inland margin of the 

Coastal Plain, and the belt from which determinable plant fossils have been collected extends from the vicinity of the Kentucky 

boundary, in west-central Tennessee, .southward and eastward . to west-central Georgia. 

· Both Lower ( ~) and Upper Cretaceous deposits are represented in this area, but· the 

former are much less extensive and varied 

than in tlw· middle Atlantic slope, to the 

northeast, or in the western Gulf area, to the 

west, in Texas and Mexico. Supposed Lower 

Cretaceous sediments are present only in the 

1 
2 THE FLORA OF T'HE RIPLEY FORMATION 

extreme eastern part of the area, where the 

southwesterly extension of the Potomac group 

of the ~fiddb Atlantic States has been considered to cross Georgia along the fall line as an 

irregular belt of unfossiliferous cross-bedded 

arkosic sandy clay and light-colored kaolin 5 to 

. 30 1i1iles wide and to extend westward into 

Alabam'a as a belt 4 to 8 miles wide that terminates in Elmore County. The question of the 

age of these beds is not yet settled. Recently 

Stephenson collected fossil plants from a locality within this belt at Old Fort Decatur 

on Tallapoosa River, which are· of Upper Cretaceous age. la This throws considerable doubt 

on outcrops in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, which on physical evidence 

have been considered to represent the Lower 

Cretaceous in this general region. 

The Upper Cretaceous of the eastern Gulf 

region is subdivided into the Tuscaloosa formation, the Eutaw format-ion, the Selma chalk, 

and the Ripley forn1Ja1tion, although these are 

not stri~tly chronologie units, as will be shown 

in the subsequent discussion. 

The Tuscaloosa is the basal formation of 

the eastern· Gulf Coastal Plain from Elmore. 

County, Ala. (and probably fa;rther east), to 

Tishomingo County, Miss., where it gradually 

thins and is transgressed by the partly overlying Eutaw formation, although it is represented by the remnants of coarse deposits 

which have been recognized across the Tennessee ·valley as far as Kentucky and which consist of river deposits of somewhat later age 

than the delta deposits of west-central Alahamar-the type region of the Tuscaloosa 

formation. At its eastern margin the Tuscaloosa doubtless impinges on the ·supposed 

Lower Cretaceous, but both the Tuscaloosa 

and the supposed Lower Cretaceous have been 

transgressed by the Eutaw and the details are 

obscured. 

The Eutaw forms a belt of varying composition (sand, clay, and marl) extending from 

Taylor County, in western Georgia, to Benton 

County, in western Tennessee, and occurs in 

isolated remnants as far north as Trigg 

County, Ky. In Georgia and eastern Alabama 

it rests with marked unconformity on the supposed Lower Cretaceous. Throughout the rest 

tn Berry, ill. W., The age of the supposed Lower Creta<'eous 

of Alabama: Washington Acad. Sci. Jour., vol.. 13, pp. 

433-435, figs. 1-6, Dec. 4, 1923. 

of Alabama it overlies the Tuscaloosa without 

apparent unconformity. Beyond the Tuscaloosa region in Tennessee the Eutaw constitutes the basal formation of the Coast•a<l Plain, 

resting on the rocks of the Paleozoic floor except where remnants of the Tuscaloosa are preserved. 

The Eutaw formation has been divided into 

three members-a basal unnamed member, the 

Tombigbee sand member, and the Coffee sand 

member. I have shown in a previous paper 2 

that the basal1nember in Alabama was probably wholly or partly the marine equivalent of 

the Tuscaloosa delta deposits. The Tombigbee sand n1ember appears to be e. true transgressive marine sand. In west-central Alabama the changes in drainage brought about 

clear-water marine cbnditions w'ith chalky sediments, and these conditions were set up 1nuch 

earlier and persisted to a later tin1e than either 

to the east or to the north. In Tennessee the 

Tombigbee sand merges into what has been 

called the Coffee sand 1nember of the Eutaw, 

and in this region sandy sedimentation contjnued long after it had ceased in Alabama. 

Consequently the Coffee sand of Tennessee 

represents the time interval of approximately 

the lower half of the Selma chalk of east-central Mississippi and west-central Alabama. 

This general relation was inferred fron1 the 

field relations during the reconnaissance made 

by Stephenson and n1e, was later confirn1ed by 

the faunal studies of Stephenson, and was still 

further established by the fossil plants subsequently discovered at Coffee Bluff and elsewhere in. Tennessee. 

The Selma chalk extends fron1 east-central Alabama to Benton County, Tenn., resting throughout without apparent unconformity on the Eutaw. It is one of the most 

persistent lithologic units in the entire Coastal 

Plain and consists for the n1ost part of massi~rely bedded, usually lithified calcareous clay 

or argillaceous limestone. It was long known 

as the " Rotten limestone " and forms the socalled Black Prairie country. In the area of 

its maximum development along Tmnbigbee 

River in west-central Alabama it crops out 

in a broad belt and attains a thickness of at 

least 1,000 ·feet, extending to the extreme top 

of the Upper Cret~ceous. It is a deposit laid 

down in moderately shallow wat~r, as is 

2 U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 112, p .. 26, 19·19. 
THE RIPLEY FORMATION 3 

shown by the abundance of fossil Ostreidae, 

and seems to owe its peculiar character to the 

absence of terrigenous . materials. It is a 

lithologic and not a chronologie unit, the careful faunal studies of. Stephml.son having shown 

that it is partly the equivalent of the Eutaw 

and largely the equivalent of the Ripley. The 

various faunal lines have been traced successfully frmn the ·sand and clay of the Chattahoochee basin through the chalk to the sand and 

clay of northeastern Mississippi. The bearing of the Selm.a chalk on the Upper 

Cretaceous physiography is important, because the absence of run-off carrying terrigenous materials that made possible the formation of the chalk denotes a downwarping 

of the upper embayment and a shifting northward of the stream deltas that existed during 

Tusca.loosa time. 

The deposits of the Ripley sea extend fronl 

Twiggs County, in central Georgia, to the 

head of the Mississippi embayment, in south., 

ern Illinois, and probably westward through 

the western Gulf region, although there is a 

wide interval in Missouri and Arkansas that 

was transgressed by Eocene deposits,. large 

iueas of which were subsequently removed by 

the action of ~1ississippi River during l~te · 

Tertiary and Quaternary time. 

These deposits of the Ripley sea do not constitute a single lithologic or forniational unit, 

because in the eastern Gulf region those in the 

Chattahoochee basin are separated from those 

in northeastern Mississippi .and the States 

farther north by the western Alabama area, 

in which the Selma chalk continues to the top 

of the Upper Cretaceous. 

THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

HISTORICAL SKETCH 

The Ripley formation was named in 1860 

by IIilgard 3 after the town of Ripley, in 

Tippah County, .~1iss., which is 3 miles southwest of the classic fossiliferous Ripley deposits 

exposed along Owl Creek. Until the studies. 

by Stephenson, previously mentioned, the limits of the Ripley had been indefinite for more 

than half a century, any fossiliferous Upper·. 

Cretaceous sand having usually been considered Ripley. The history of the study of th~se 

deposits need not concern us further; the lita Hilgard, El. W., Report on the geology and agl'iculture of 

Mississippi. pp. 62,. 83-95, 1860. 

erature containing absolutely no re:£erence to 

fossil plants except brief preliminary papers 4 

and the description of Ripley plants in Professional Paper 112. 

AREAL DISTRIBUTION · 

The beds to which the name Ripley foni1ation 

has been applied crop out from Twiggs County, 

in central Georgia, to central Alabama, where 

they are interrupted by the synchronous deposits of the upper part of the Selma chalk. 

'I'he Selma chalk forms the top of the Upper 

Cretaceous for most of the distance between 

central Alabama and Houston County, Miss. 

Fron1 that point to the head of the Mississippi embayment the Ripley .deposits are continuous. In Georgia the outcrop is from 10 

to 15 miles wide; in Alabama to the line where 

it passes into the chalk phase it is frmn 25 

to 30 miles wide; and beyond the chalk in 

northeastern ~1ississippi it narrows to about 

12 miles at the 1\'Iississippi-Tennessee boundary. It is about 6 miles wide at the Ten:nessee-ICentucky boundary and maintains that 

width across ICentucky and southern Illinois. 

LITHOLOGIC CHA:i.ACTER 

The Ripley materials are predominantly 

massively bedded dark-gray to greenish-black 

marine sands, more or less calcareous, micaceous, pyritiferous, glauconitic, and argillaceous, according to the conditions of sedimentation in different parts of the Ripley sea. 

They are usually fossiliferous, in some places 

enough so to constitute shell marls. Ledges 

of sandy limestone are developed locally. 

Some distance east of the Selma chalk, as in 

the Chattahoochee basin, the Ripley has been 

estimated (probably overestimated) to be 

about 1,000 feet thick, but it thins eastward 

in Georgia, where it becomes ·more definitely 

a deposit of littoral sands. .It is also thinner 

in the upper embayment, having a reported 

thickness of 400 feet at 'Vickliffe, ICy. ; 54 

feet at Ca.iro, Ill.; and 204 feet at. Paducah, 

Ky., as estimated from well records. 

STRATIGRAPHIC RELATIONS 

The Ripley forni.ation rests without apparent unconformity on the . somewhat similar 

'Berry, E. W. Contributions to tbe· Mesozoic flora of the 

Atlantic Coastal Plain-VI. Georgia: Torrey Bot. Club Bull., 

vol. 37, pp·. 503-511, 1910; XI, Tennessee: Idem, vol. 43, pp. 

283-304, pl. 16, 1916. 
4 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

$ands of the upper part of the Eutaw in the 

Chattahoochee basin. Eastward in Georgia it 

lies unconformably on the supposed Lower 

Cretaceous. West ward across parts of Alabama and Mississippi it is developed above the 

chalk phase (Selma chalk), which, changing 

gradually northward into a clay~· underlies 

it as far as the southern boundary of l(entucky. 

Fr01n this point to the head of the embayment 

it rests on the ~mbayment floor of Paleozoic 

rocks. It is overlain throughout its extent 

by the unconformable deposits of the Eocene, 

although a limestone at the base of the Midway group (basal Eocene) at Owl Creek, Miss., 

which Lowe correlates with the Clayton limestone of Alabama, was included in the Ripley 

by Hilgard. 

TENNESSEE MISSISSIPPI 

Eocen 

dence sand member of the Ripley comprises 

irregularly bedded sand and clay of shallow 

marine and littoral origin which can be traced 

from Crenshaw . County, Ala., to Twiggs 

County, Ga. Like the Cusseta sand it thickens toward the northeast, and it is indisLnguishable from the Cusseta in the region 

where the tniddle. member of ~he Ripley has. 

disappeared. It continues to the top of the 

Cretaceous in that region. 

The Ripley deposits of western Tennessee 

comprise irregularly bedded sand, clay, and 

marl which sinqe the days of Safford (1864) 

have been referred to the. Ripley formation. 

Stephenson, in 1914, proposed the name ~1c. 

N airy sand member for these beds. The &e.-

tailed work of Wade has shown that the H.i pALABAMA GEORGIA 

c 

-id ~ .e-E 

O::L cE 

~:;:~btf-~>-• --_S_e-lm_· ~-~alkFIGURE 1.-Diagrammatic section of the Cretaceous from Tennessee to Georgia, showing the time relations of the different 

stratigraphic units and their relation to underlying and ove~lying formations \il Ill:;.~ m~ ... ~l 

SUBDIVISIONS 

Disregarding earlier interpretations we 

may note that in the Chattahoochee area and 

eastward in Georgia, Stephenson segregated 

the Ripley into three members-a lower 

'named the Cusseta sand member, a middle 

unnamed member, and an upper or Providence sand member. The Cusseta sand member comprises 200 ·to 300 feet of irregularly 

bedded, mostly nonglauconitic sand with subordinate clay lenses of shallow marine origin, 

becoming thicker and more littoral in cha.r-

. acter toward the northeast as the more typically marine beds of the middle member pinch 

out. The · Cusseta sand member contains a 

few ·fossil plants which indicate that it represents the whole or a part o:f the time interval 

of the Coffee. sand member of the Eutaw 

formation in wester·n Tennessee. The Pro viley of the upper embayment was predominantly of . marine origin and that several 

horizons can be discriminated. These from 

the oldest to the youngest are the Coon Creek, 

Mr;Nairy. sand, and Owl Creek. The 1nost 

extensive marine fauna yet found in the Ripley comes from Coon Creek, Tenn., and ·the 

second fauna in size and variety is that of 

Owl Creek, Miss., at the top of the formation. 

The intervening beds are less· fossiliferous, 

but certain clay lenses that mark a horizon in 

the MeN airy sand as limited by 'Vade contain an abundance of fossil plants and. are 

interpreted as representing deposition 111 

. ·coastal lagoons. . 

The chronologie relations of the Upper Cretaceous formations of the eastern Gulf area 

as interpreted by me are shown diagrammatically in Figure 1. 
OCCURRENCE, COMPOSITION, ORIGIN, AND EVOLUTION 5 

THE RIPLEY FLORA 

OCCURRENCE 

Determinable fossil plants have been found 

at 13 different .localities that .are referred to 

the Ripley formation. Those in Alabama and 

Georgia were described in Professional Paper 

112 (1919), already cited. ·Those discovered 

in western Tennessee are due almost entirely 

to the field work of Bruce ·vv ade, and the 

localities, with the exception of the Big Cut 1n 

~1cNairy County,have not been visited by me; 

the stratigraphic description of these localities 

.will be omitted from this report, as the Tennessee Geological Survey is publishing a series 

of county repotts that will contain detailed 

discussions of these plant-bearing outcrops. 

The localities in Alabama and Georgia furnish but few and on the whole not well-preserved fossil plants. They are separated by 

some 350 miles of coast line of the Ripley sea 

from the southernmost locality for Ripley 

plants in Tennessee, and this in turn is about 

100 miles south oi the highly fossiliferous localities in Henry and Carroll counties. At the 

·other Tennessee localities· the remains in character and condition of preservation are 1-r{~lcl; 

like those of Alabama and Georgia. It is at 

the Perry place, in Henry County, and the 

Cooper pit, in Carroll County, that most of 

the information regarding the Ripley flora 

has been collected. 

COMPOSITION, ORIGIN, . AND EVOLUTION 

Curiously enough each of the two localities · 

just mentioned has yielded a total of 66 different species, and still more interest~ng is the 

:fact that of this relatively large number there 

are only 15 species common to both, or slightly 

under 13 per cent of the total number of 117 

species represented a.t the two localities. This 

difference of facies is not only a difference in 

species but in genera. For example, at the 

Perry place have been found species of the 

genera Diosc01ites, Geonomites, P1·otopl~yllocladus, Jttglans, Salix, Li1iodendron; 11! enisl;ermites, Oappa1·is, Acaciaphyllum, OaesalJJinites, Dalbergia, Pachystima.tt, Rharr~;nus, 

Oissites, and Bttmelia, \Vhich are not found at 

the Cooper pit, and the Cooper pit has fnrnished representatives of the genera Selaginella, Asplenium, M on.heimia, vViddring100913-25--2 

tonites, Geinitzia, Potamogeton, Alisrnaphyllum, Dr7jophyllu-m, F'ag'lts, Oeltis, Oedrela, 

Acer, Dillenites, Oinnamomwm, N ectandra, 

Myrcia, Eugenia, Oo'rnophyllum, Ohrysophyllum, and Acer(l)tes, which have not been found 

at the Perry place. 

~1oreover, in the larger genera, such as 

llfyrica, with 11 species, only one of these is 

common to the two localities; only two of the 

Leguminosae are common to both localities; 

of the seven species of Oelastrophyllu1n b~t 

one is found at both outcrops; of the nine figs 

none are common to both; of the five species 

of Apocynophyllum none are common; of the 

three species of Zizyphus only one is common, and that one is r'are at one locality and 

abundant at the other; and of the three species 

of Te1·nstroemites only one is found at . both 

localities. 

As these two localities have been shown by 

the mapping to represent practically the same 

horizon these marked differences in apparent 

facies can be due to but two causes-th'at is, 

they are to be accounted for solely as the result of accidents of preservation or discovery 

or as being inherent differences due to local 

differences in environmental conditions, at the 

time of growth. Possibly a combination of 

these two explanations is the correct solution. 

I am indined, however, to think that in this 

as in many other fossil fl<lras and faunas accidents of preservation and discovery are the 

majoi· factors in producing the apparent differences, and this conclusion emphasizes anew 

the extreme danger of r~lying upon negative 

evidence, for did we not know otherwise we 

should doubt the contemporaneity of these 

two florules. 

All the remaining localities where Ripley 

plants have been discovered have yielded too 

few species to 'afford satisfactory evidence for 

close correlation. The beds in Tennessee are 

known from their stratigraphic position to be 

of approximately identical age with those at 

the Perry place and Cooper pit. Those in Barbour County, Ala., are undoubtedly Ripley 

but whether younger oi.· older than the Tennessee beds can· not be determined. The two 

plant-bearing localities 'in Georgia which L. 

"'V. Stephenson h'as referred to the Cusseta 

sand member or lower Ripley of the Georgia 

area are of especia~ interest, because although 

neither locality has yielded more than half a 
6 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FOR.MATION 

dozen species these furnish conclusive evidence in support of the correlations proposed 

by Stephenson on stratigraphic and meager 

faunal evidence. 

The three species known from Byron, Ga., 

are Drryopterites stephemoni, Arauaarria jeffreyi, and Ounninghamites elegans. The first 

is not found elsewhere, the second occurs in the 

Eutaw and Black Creek formations, and the 

third in the Black Creek, Magothy, and other, 

generally slightly older deposits. The beds at 

Byron appear to be older than any plant-bearing Ripley deposits in Tennessee and. probably 

older than the Coffee sand member of the 

Eutaw formation, and also older than those at 

the Buena Vista locality in Georgia. Six 

species are recorded from Buena Vista. Two 

of these occur in the McN·airy sand member of 

the Ripley formation. The other four are 

species characteristic of the Black Creek formation of the Carolinas and the Eutaw formation of Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia; one 

of the four occurs in the Bingen sand of Arkansas, and two in the Magothy form·ation of 

Maryland. The beds at Buena Vista ·appear to 

be of the same age as part of the Eutaw of the 

Chattahoochee River region and of central 

Alabama, and as the Coffee· sand of Tennessee. 

The Cusseta sand member of the Ripley formation in Georgia is thus older than any of the 

Ripley of ':Dennessee and is to be correlated with 

the lower half of the Selma chalk in the region 

of the greatest development of the chalk in 

west-central Alabama and east-central Mississippi, as is also the Coffee sand member of 

the Eutaw formation, and,the Ripley of Ten-

. nessee corresponds with the upper half of the 

Selma chalk in the region of its maximum 

development and with the Providence sand 

member of the Ripley of Georgia. The locali-

. ties in Henry and Carroll counties, Tenn., are 

well toward the head of the Cretaceous Mississippi embayment ·and over 20 miles north of 

the localities in Barbour County, Ala., or of 

the Ripley localities in Georgia. Moreover, it 

is becoming increasingly clear that a large 

body of Upper Cretaceous deposits originally 

laid down across Tennessee and Kentucky has 

disappeared during the formation of the Tennessee Valley, so that in Selma and Ripley 

time the shore line was some distance to the 

east of the present outcrop of these deposits 

and there was a considerable reentrant or bay 

extending eastwa~d froin the head of the late 

Cretaceous Mississippi Gulf. 

These relatively slight geographic changes 

are not believed to be reflected in the facies of 

the flora, nor is it believed that the position 

of these deposits with relation to the Atlantic 

Oceari or their difference in latitude would 

have an appreciable effect upon their composition, for the corresponding floras extend 

over many degrees of latitude without appreciable changes, as is also true of the contemporaneous marine faunas. The few Ripley 

plants previously recorded were c.oriaceous, 

decay-resisting forms that might have been 

transported for considerable d.istances, but 

those fron1 Henry and Carroll counties present every indication of having lived in the 

vicinity where they were found. Their 

state of preservation indicates this, as well 

as the abundance of small delicate and long, 

slender• fonns that would certainly be mutilated or destroyed by transportation. There 

could have been no wave .action where these 

fine-grained clay lenses were deposited, so tha.t 

the clay must owe its origin to the settling 

frorh suspension of mud, either in a sheltered 

lagoon along. the coast or in a quiet estuary 

or bayou of a slow-moving stream. The exposed portion of the clay is not black and 

carbonaceous, but its thickness is inconsiderable ::md it lies immediately below the upper 

contact with the sand, so that nothing is 

known of the character of the lower clay. 

The sands are coarse beach and barrierbeach sands, and the clay lenses tend to have 

their long axes approximately parallel to .. the 

old coas~ line. In general the relations are 

very similar . to those which existed during 

lower Eocene time in this same region. This 

argillaceous portion of the Ripley is rather 

persistent, consisting of disconnected lenses of 

greater or less length, which extend from 

narth to south for at least 50 miles across 

·Henry and Carroll counties. Farther north in 

Henry County a bed of lignite more than 20 

. inches thick is exposed, but none is seen near 

the plant-bearing outcrops, nor is the base of 

the clay exposed. The basins in which the deposits were laid down may be pictured as . a 

series of coastal lagoons stretching along the 

shore of the Ripley sea, from which they were 

partly or wholly cut off by barrier beaches. 
DISTRIBUTION 7 

Those that were less sheltered were filled with 

argillaceous sand such as occurs' west of Camden 

and farther south, where most of the plant 

fragments were broken up and the more or less 

carbonaceous clays contain identifiable fragments of only the more resistant types: The 

lagoons represented by the Perry and Cooper 

localities were more sheltered and protected· 

from wave action, at least for long intervals, 

during which the 'fine muds were deposited. 

That there were no considerable streams 

emptying into the Ripley sea in the Tennessee 

region is rendered very probable by the history 

of Tennessee River, to the east. The Tennessee appears to have been the master stream at 

that time, following much the same course that 

it does at present but farther east, its distributaries having migrated northward during Tus-

· caloosa time, as I have indicated in the discussjon of Tuscaloosa history. 5 The Ripley mainland appears to have been well wooded. 

There is no evidence of distinctively palustrine 

conditions at the two principal plant localities, 

although elsewhere in deposits of this age 

such evidence is present. Se·veral supposed 

aquatic plants are included in the collection, 

however, and the number of coastal types is 

considerable, as I have shown in the analysis 

of the flora. 

DISTRIBUTION 

The following systematically arranged table 

shows the distribution of the Ripley species at 

the several localities of this age from which 

identifiable plants have been collected: 

5 U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 112, 1919. 

Distribution of the Rip~ey flora 

Tennessee Alabama Georgia 

:>. 

~ 8 ~ ~ l=l t' :>. :>. s s l=l l=l 

~ 0 .!:I § ·~ .s ~ ·a "' 0 0 

::l ;; ~ 

::~ z z .0 -e "' :g 0 .c: 0 0 ~ 0 a P=l c:J "' ~ 0 0 0 0 <:.> 

~ 0 P=l P=l P:l 

t' ~ o::l ~ :>. "'~ 0 ~0 .!:I l=l 1E» :>. gJo ~» t' t' :>. ~» ~» :>. 

~ >§ .:t§ l=l~ "' ~§ .!.:~ ~ ~:>. ~§ ~§ ~=:~§ P:l 0 QlO !So ,c: .... ig ~§ z ~g t:§l so so <:.> <llO "'0 8o 

8 ~ l=lO :go 8P:l "'0 ~0 030 ~ '30 oo l=lO »0 

"' ·a ~ 0 U1 r"'l ~ P=l "Q. ::l gjd' :; ~ ::l 

~ P=l ~ P=l 

t' ~~ l=l 0 .!.: 0. .... ... 0 a a a a ·~ a "' 0 bl) 

~ o· "' ~ ~ Q.) 0 ~ ~ 0 ~ ~ 

p.. 0 z z ~ z 0 z iii z 0 z z -----------------------------------------------

Phylum LEPIDOPHYTA? 

Order LYCOPODIALEs? 

Family 8ELAGINELLACEAE? 

Selaginella laciniata Lesquereux_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X 

Phylum PTERIDOPHYTA 

Order FILICALES 

Aspleniltm calopteris (Debey and Ettings- hausen) Heer _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X ____________ ---- __ - _____ - ___ ---- ____ ---- ----

Raphaelia neuropteroides Debey and Ettings- hausen _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X X ________ - _-- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- -- __ ---- ----

Raphaelia minuta Berry________________________ X ____________ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ____ ---- ----

Monheimia aquisgranensis Debey and Ettings- hausen ____________________________________ ._ X ________ ------------------------------------ Taeniopteris sp _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X X. ____________ ---- - _-- ____ - ___ ---- ____ ---- ----

Dryopterites stephensoni Berry __________________________________ ---- ___ ~ ____ - ___ ---- ____ ---- X 

Phylum CoNIFEROPHYTA 

Protophyllocladus lobatus Berry____________ X ________________ ---- ____________ ---- ____ ---- ----

Widdringtonites reichii (Ettingshausen) Heer_ ____ X X ________ ---- ____ ---"' ____ ---- ____ ---- ----

Moriconia cyclotoxon Debey and EttingsGeinitzia M~:i~~~~~ formosa ~~e-;i~;~~ Heer --se;;:Y _________________________ ~= == == = = == == = = = = = ~ _ -~ X _ = ____________________________ = = = = = = = = == = === = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

---- = = = = ____ = = = --------

= = = = = = = = 

Cunninghamites elegans (Corda) Endlicher ___ ~---- ____ ----------------------.------------------ X Araucaria bladenensis Berry ____________________________________________________________ X ---- Araucaria jeffreyi Berry ____________________________________________________________________ X 

Dammara acicularis Knowlton_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _______________________________________ ~ 
8 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

Distribution of the Ripley jlo1·a-Continued 

Phylum ANGIOSPERMOPHYTA 

Class MoNOCOTYLEDONAE 

Order N AIADALES 

Family N:AIADACEAE 

Tennessee Alabama Georgia 

Potamogeton ripleyensis Berry _________________ _ X ---- -------- -------- ---------------- ---- ---- Alismaphyllum cretaceum Berry _________ · ______ _ X 

Order LILIALES 

Family DIOSCOREACEAE 

Dioscorites cretace us Berry ______ ~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X ____________________ - _-- ---- - _-- ---- ---- ---- ---- Doryanthites cretacea Berry _________________ -.--- ________________________________ ---- ____ X ___ _ 

Order ARECALES 

Family ARECACEAE 

Geonomites schimperi Lesquereux ___________ X ____ ---- X ________ X ------------------------ Sabalites SP------------------------------- ____________________ X ____ X ____ ---- ___________ _ 

Class DICoTYLEDONAE 

Series CHORIPETALAE 

Order JuGLANDALES 

Family JuoLANDACEAE 

Juglans similis Knowlton __________________ _ J uglans tennesseensis Berry ________________ _ J uglans wadii Berry _______ ..; ______________ _ 

Order M YRICALES 

X 

X X ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ====~==== ==== ==== ==== 

Family M YRICACEAE . 1 

~~~i~: ;:~ii !~~t,.-B~~;y~::~:::::::::::~:: ~ :::: :::: :::: ::::!::~~ :::: ::~~ ~::: :::: ~::: :::~ :::: 

Myrica ripleyensis Berry __________ !.· _______________________ .:. X ______ -: _ X ____ ---- ___________ _ 

Myrica cooperensis Berry __________________ ---- X ·- _____ -- ___ - ---- ---- ·---- ---- ---- ---- .---- ---- Myrica johnstrupi (Heer) Berry _________________ X ____________ -------------------------------- Myrica minor Berry ____________________ . ___ X _______ . _________ --------------------------------

Myrica ornata Berry_______________________ _ _ _ _ X ____________ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Myrica torreyi Lesquereux ________________ ;_ _____ X ____________ ---- ------------ :---- ___ .:. ·---- ---- Myrica torreyi obtusata Berry_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X ____________ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Myrica brittoniana Berry ___________________ X _____________________________________________ _ 

Myrica brittoniana obtusata Berry ___________ X ""'--- ____________ -------------------- ------------

Order SALICALES 

Family SALICACEAE 

Salix gardneri Knowlton? __________________ _I X 
DISTRIBUTION 9 

Distributrion of the Ripley jl01·a--Continued 

1'ennessee Alabama Georgia 

t' » § ~ ~ 5:l t' :::· » 13 a 5:l 5:l 

1:l 0 5:l 1:l ·~ .s 1:l ·o; ·a 0 0 

::i ::i 0::1 <1) Ot- z z ::i .0 -e 0::1 :g 0 0 0 .0 <1) 0 a o:l ;:g 0 0 0 o§ ~ <.> 

~ 0 0 ;:g p::: ~ ~ :::- :a d ..... 0 :::- ~a » gjO -» it>. t' » » ~ ~-t- » ~ .8§ !:l ..... 

~§ ·a .$1:l ~§ a§ <1) >§ ~» ~§ -!:l z <1)~ 

-~ 0 :S~ ceo !Eo so ~::i <1lo so <.> ::i::i 

ceo ~s ceo ~0 aS g)O ~0 .... Ql 

.... g~ o::~O ~0 Q)o ~ 'aO oo ~0 »O <.> 0 0::1 ·a ::i 0 UJ Ql ~ 

~ ~ 8 ::i 'a 1il ~ gj ~- ~ 

c -Ql 0 .... ~ p. .... a '§'0 te 5:l .... 0 0::1 0 0::1 -~ te a bll 0::1 1il 0 Ql Ql Q 0 z Ql 0 Ql <1) 

p., 0 z z .., 

..... z 0 ~ z 0 z z -------------------1--------------------------

X 

Order FA GALES 

Fa~ily FAGACEAE I 

Dryophyllum graCile Debey __ -------------- ____ X 

Dryophyllum protofagus Berry______________ _ _ _ _ X 

Fagus ripleyensis Berry .. ________________________ X 

X - - - - - - - - .. - - - - - - -

Order UnTICALES 

Family ULMACEAE 

Celtis cretacea Berry _____________________ .:. _____ X ---- ____________________ ---~ _______________ _ 

Family MonACEAI<J 

Artocarpus cretacea Berry__________________ X X ___________________________________________ _ Ficus ripleyana Berry ___________________________ X ___________________________________________ _ 

Ficus krausiana Heer_ __________________________ X ___________________________________________ _ 

l!m Ficus ~f~i~!~~~fi.~~r=~~~~~~~~~~~~=~~~~~~~ cooperensis Berry_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X }= =~r~~ ___________________________________________ ~~~~ ~~~= =~~~ =~~~ ~~~~ ~~~= ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ _ 

~~~~:~ ~~~:-~A~~~~i~B~~-"Y~~=================== --~- --x- ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== =-=== ==== ==== :::: -~- =~,:-:: Order PLATANALES 

Family PLATANACEAE 

Platanus ripleyensis'Berry _________________ . _________ ---- ________ -----.--- ___ .: ____ X -~-- _______ _ 

.Platanus SP------------'---------------.---- ________________________________________ X _____ :.. __ 

Order RAN ALI<JS 

Family MAGNOLIACI<JAI<J 

Liriodet~dron lar~~iense Ward ______________ X ____ ! ____ --------------------1-------------------- Magnolia capellnm Heer __________________________ _! ____________________ X ___________________ _ 

Family MI<JNISPEUMACEAE 

I 

. I . . 

X 

.. I . . Menispermites variabilis Berry______________ _ ___________________________ 1

__ _ ____ __ _ __ 

I ; ! - -- - ----

Capparis proeoc~:~:r ~:::;,~~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _______________ - -- ___ - _____ -!-- _- _______ -~- _____ _ 

Order pAP A VEUALES 

Family CAPPAUIDACI<JAE 

L. , I-~ 

Family MIMOSACEAE 

Acaciaphyllites creta'ceum Berry ____ :_ ________ X ---- ---- -----1---- ---- -~ -----1 - ---- . -

M imosites cooperensis Berry________________ X X _ _ _ _ X __________ : _____ : _:: ____ ::: ~ : _:: :::: 
10 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

Distribution of the Rip~ey flora-Continued 

Tennessee Alabama I Georgia 

p.. a 8 ... s s:l C.' C.' a ::; ::;· s:l s:l 

l:l ~ 0 0 

§ te l:l ·a ·a tl s:l 0 0 

::l -~ a ~ o_e. z z ::l .c .c ::l 0 0 0 .c ~ 0 til a ~ 0 0 0 0 '0§ jl:l <:.> <:.> 0 p.. jl:l jl:l ~ d' ""'0 ~ ~ 

-~ d' t:l 8 ~~ p.. gso ·» t· p.. p.. ·» ... p.. p.. 

.a§ fl: p.. ti31:l i§ .:i§ ,!C ... 

~§ a§ ~ a >§ i§ z ~s:l 

~ 0 teO !So ..0 t:l '0 ::l . so <:.> go ~5 teO 8o ~ ~~I §8 ~0 

~ oo .... - s:lO ~0 .... o 030 ::;o s:lO »0 ~ 

s:l I 0 0 ~ jl:l d ·a ::l UJ r"'l ~ ::l 'a ... ·jl:l gs s:l- ~ ~ jl:l 

t' ~ 

s~ a 0 ,.!C 

0. ... a a 0 s:l 

0 a a -~ d a ai 0 ~ ~ ~ 0 ~ .!:!! ~ 0 ~ ~ 

P; 0 z z .... z 0 z jl:l z 0 z z ---,- ----------------

Family CA;ESALPINIACEAE 

Caesalpinites perryensis Berry _______________ X ____ ---- ____ ---- ---- ---- -------- ---- ---- ---- ---- Caesalpinites ripleyensis Berry______________ X ____ ---- ________ --- _____ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Bauhinia rip;~~:~·p::::~~~~~~: _________ -~- -~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _ ---1--- _ 

Dalbergia cretacea Berry _________________ ~_ X ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Dalbergia perry ana Berry __________________ _ 

Dalbergia prewilcoxiana Berry _____________ _ 

LEGUMINOSAE (position uncertain) 

X 

X 

Leguminosites cariavalioides Berry ___________ X X ____________ ---- ____ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Leguminosites perryensis Berry ______________ X ________________________ ---- ________ ---- ____ ----

Leguminosites carrollensis Berry _____________ ---- X --------1------------------------------------

Gleditsiophyllum preovatum Berry__________ X ________________________ ---- -- ______ -- _- ---- ---- Gleditsiophyllum proeocenicum Berry________ X ______________________ .. _ ---- ________ -- ___ --- ----

Gleditsiophyllum aristatum Berry___________ _ _ _ _ X _--- _____ - _- ----' _--- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Order GERANIALES 

Family MELIACEAE 

Cedrela prewilcoxiana Berry_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _ -- - _______ - ---- ____ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

·Family EuPHORBIACEAE 

Euphorbiophyllum petiolatum Berry_________ X X ---- X X ---- Euphorbiophyllum tennesseensis Berry_______ X _____ - __________ --- _____ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Euphorbiopl!yllum cretaceum Berry __________ X ____________ ---- ---- ____ -------- ---- ------------

Eupho-:biophyllum antiquum Saporta and . Marion_________________________________ _ _ _ _ X _--- _____ - __ --- _____ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Manihotites georgiana Berry ______ -:_________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X -- ______ ---- X 

Order SAPINDALES 

Family CELASTRACEAE 

Celastrophy llum carolinensis Berry ______________ _ 

Celastrophyllum ripleyanum Berry___________ X 

Celastrophyllum minimum Berry____________ X 

Celastrophyllum cassinoides Berry___________ X 

Celastrophyllum perryi Berry_______________ X 

Celastrophyllum variabilis Berry_____________ X 

Pachystima? cretacea Berry _______ .:._________ X 

Family AcERACEAE 

X ---- ---- -------- ------------ ---- ---- ---- ----

X ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---7 ---- -------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- -- -- ---- - - I - --- ---- ---- -.---

Acer cretaceum Be:rry _______________ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _ -:.. - -r-- ---- -- - - - --- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- -- --

Order RHAMN ALES \ 

I 

Family RiiAMN ACEAE . . I 

~~~fff€E!~~[fifr-~=~~~~~~~~~=~~~~ -~~-~: ~~~~ ~~~t~~ ~j~~~~ ~~~~· ==~= ~~== ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ 
. DISTRIBUTION 11 

Distrib1ttioo of the Rip~ey fior~Continued. 

Tennessee Alabam.a Georgia 

>. >. 

~ ... 8 ~ >. t' 0 0 ~ .s ... c:<l ·~ ·c; :l :l <:<: o_e. ::l 0 0 z z 0 ..0 Q> 0 0 0 -::l lXI C) ~ 

t' .&~ >. 

0:::~ ::a ~ 

~ +>o >. -» ~0 . ::l~ to >. ::l .!!l~ !::..., 

~§ Q> !:!;:;.. ~-::i ~ c:<l :>::s ·~ ::l Q>~ 

0 so ..0 .. c:<lo ·~ 0 ...,::l '0:::! 

so ~g .§0 ~ '"'a> C) ..., ::lO ;:ao g~ "'o 00 Q>o <:<: ·a Q) 0 rn :::3 i5. ... lXI ~ ::lt' Q> 

p. ]~· ::l ... ~ ... ... c "' c:<l 0 Q> 0 "' Q) Q> "' z 0 Q> ~ 0 z· z ...... 0 z 

t> ~ ... ::l l:l :::3 

·~ s ::l 0 c ::l -e -e <:<: rg 0 "' "' ..... 0 0 lXI lXI ,...,. 

~ 

t' '" >. _::.. +>>. t> ·;:a ~ .... ~ .... sg Q)::l ~e -i:l 

z a:>::l ::lo <:,) '"'O 88 ~0 

~ -3o oo >.0 Q> lXI r"'l a:> :::3 ::; a:> 

~ lXI 0 ... -~ ... ... bl) ."' "' 0:: Q) 0 a:> a:> iii z 0 z z 

----·---·--------:-------1--------------------------

Family VITACEAE 

Cissites crispus Velenovsky _______________________________ . __ 1 ____________ X ___________________ _ 

Cissites panduratus Knowlton _____ -----_____ X ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Order MALVALES 

Family TILIACEAE 

Grewiopsis ripleyensis Berry""' ______ ·_--- ______ -- _ Grewiopsis inequilateralis Berry _____ ---_____ X 

X ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- X 

Family STEUCULIACEAE 

Sterculia suowii tennesseeusis Berry----- ___________ -- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- X 

Order P ARIJDT ALES 

Family DrLLENIACEAE 

Dillenites cretaceus Berry _______________________ X --------------------------------------------

Family TERNSTROEMIACEAE 

Ternstroe1'nites ripleyensis Berry _____________ X. ____ -------------------------------------------- Ternstroemites ten nesseensis Berry __ ---- ________ _ Ternstroemites cretaceus Berry ______ ---_____ X 

Order THYMELEALES 

Family LAURACEAE 

X -------- ---- ---- ---- -------- -------- --------

X ----1---- ------------ ---- -------- ---- ---- ----. 

Cinnamomum newberryi Berry ______________________ X. X ------------ X ----~---- ---- ---- ----· 

Cinuamomum newberryi lanceolatum Berry _______ X ____ -------- ____ ---- ---- ---- -------- -------- Cinnamomumnewberryiminimum Berrv _________ X ____ ---- ____ ---- ·---- ---- ----'---- ------------

c~nnamomum . n~w b . 11· t" B ~ · X I erry1 e_1p 1cum ~rry_____ ____ ------------ ____ -------- ----~---- ------------ Cnu.lamomum J?Iaespectabile Berry ______________ X ------------------------ ----~---- ------------ Nectandra prohfica Berry ___________________ ·---- X ---- -------- ---- ---- ---- --------..,--- ---- ---- Malapoenna horrellensis Berry ____________ ..:_ -· _________ -- - ___________ ---- X X ---- ---- ---- ----

~~~~: ~t~!~~~r.:~f;~~:::::::::::~::::::~ s :~: :::::::::::::::: ~::: :::= :::r:= :::: :::: :::: 

Laurus coloradensis Knowlton _______________ X ____ ---- -------- -------- ---- ----~---- ---- ---- ---- Laurophyllum ripleyensis BerrY------~------ X X ____________________ -------- ____ ----~---- ----

Order MvuTALES 

Family MvuTACEAE 

Myrcia havanensis Berry ______________________ _ Myrcia dubia Berry ___________________________ _ Eugenia? anceps Berry ______ .: _________________ _ 

Myrtophyllum angustum (Velenovsky) Berry__ X 

Order UMBELLALES 

Family AuALIACEAE 

Aralia wellingtoniana minor Berry_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X 

Aralia problematica Berry __________________ I X 

X ---- ---- X -------- X X 

X 

X 

X ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- X --·-- ---- ---- ---- ----

X X -------- ------------ ---- ---- X 

:x-1:::: ::::::::1:::: :::~ :::::::: ::~: :::~ :::: :::: 
12 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

Distributrioo of the Ripley flora-Continued 

Tennessee :Alabama Georgia 

---- p., p., :::l ~ s 1=1 p., p., p., l5 ~ 1=1 ~ 

~ ~ 0 0 ·a .!::: ~ 0 

I:: gJ "' ~ ~ "'' 0 0 ·;:::: ::l ::l o:s o_e. z z ::l -e -e "' 0 0 ..c:l a:> o. 0 

0 0 0 0 .... 1=1 Ill 0 0 "' "' :g 0 

o::l :g ~ 0 Ill Ill I:Q p., 

~ 00~ +>0 p., .:g~ p., ... +>p., I» gJ_o .:P.. t'' I» ·~ p., ~P.. t' = ;;~ 1=1~~ = ..... ~§ or~ ,!4+> ra .. ~ 

a:> ~ ~t' a:>l=l ~"' a:>l=l • 1=1 ~Q 

I:Q 0 ::l ·- ::l "C)::l ~g z ...... ::l a:>::l >::l I <:(!0 fEO +>1=1 ao 85 ~8 0 ::lo ... 0 o:so aS 

~ 1=10 ~0 g~ "'0 ~0 :g .go oo !=10 >.0 0 a:> "' 0 0 CI.J l'<l a:> Ill 

P. ... Ill . "' ~ !j ~ ::l a:>Cl Ill 

t' a:> 

~~ 0 .!4 A ~ ... ... 1=1 ... ... ·~ ... ... 

~· 0 "' "' 0 "' bO o:s 0 "' "' z a:> a:> 0 a:> a:> 0 a:> a:> 

0 z ~ z 0 z iii z 0 z z ---~----------

Family CoRNACEAE? 

Cornophyllum minimum Berry _____________ .:.----, X --------,---- ____ ---- _______________________ _ 

Series GAMOPETALAE 

Order ERICALEs? 

Family ERICACEAE? 

Andromeda anceps Berry___________________ X 

Order EBEN ALES 

Family SAPOTACEAE_ 

Chrysophyllum parvurn BerrY---------,---------- X ---- ---------------- ---- ---- -------- -------- Bumelia prewilcoxiana Berry ________________ X --.-------------- ____ ---- _______________________ _ Bumelia ripleyana Berry_· ___________________ X -------- -------- ____ ---- _______________________ _ 

Order GENTIAN ALES 

Family ASCLEPIADACEAE · Acerates cre:::il:e:::c~~~;~~~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ X -~ _, ____ --- -~- _________________ , ____ : _______ _ 

Apocynophyllum giganteu~ Berry ___________ ---- X __ · __ ---- ----'---- -------- ________ , ___ ·_ ---- ---- Apocynophyllum perryensis Berry ____________ X ------------------------ ________________ -------- Apocynophyllum sumterensis (Berry) Berry ___ - _ _ _ X --- _ - ___ ---- _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _______ _ Apocynophyllum ripleyensis Berry ___________ --- _ X ---- -- _- - ~-- -- _- ---- __________________ - ____ _ 

Apocynophyllum alatum Berry ___ ---- _____ -- X ---- ---- ---- --- -·- --- ---- - _______ - ___ - ___ --- _- -- _ 

Position uncertain 

Calycites ripleyensis Berry _______ ----_-~---- X ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- --- _ ---- ---- ---- Phyll~tes hydrilloid~s J;3erry _________________ X --------1----------------------------------------

Phyllites hydrochar1t01des Berry _____________ ---- X ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- -------- ---- ---- -------- Phyllites ripleyensis Berry __________________ ---- X --------------------------------------------

Carpolithus perryensis Berry ______ ----~_---- X ---- --:..- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- -- -·- --- _ ---- --- _ ---- Carpolithus ripleyensis Berry ____ . ____________ -------------------- __ :.._ X ------------------------ Carpolithus carrollensis Berry _______________ ---- X -------- ----~---- ---------------------------- Halymenites major Lesquereux ____________ -- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- .. --- ---- X .. -- _ --- _ --- _ - ___ -.:..- _ 

The Ripley flora as at present known comprises 135 ·species, including the doubtfully organic remains named H alymenites. Most of 

these species are represented by well-preserved 

and ample material and· are hence well characterized ; fragmentai·y remains of still other 

forms in the collection have been ignored. 

Undoubtedly more extensive collecting would 

greatly increase the nuniber of species, and 

this is also to be expected should similar 

highly fossiliferous clay lenses be uncovered 

in the future. Of the 135 species 86, or more 

than 60 per cent, are new to science, and these 

include the genera Dioscorites, Celtis, Capparis, Cedrela, Dillenites, and Chrysophyllum, 

hitherto unknown in deposits older than the 

Eocene. 

The total number of genera is 71, and these 

are segregated into 40 families representing 28 

orders. The supposed alga ( 11 alymenites) 

and the form referred to the genus Selaginella 

are of doubtful botanic affinity. The collec-
DISTRIBUTION 13 

tion contains very fragmentary remains of six 

different species of ferns. These are all small 

and of more or less doubtful botanical identity, but they are of importance for purposes 

of correlation, as nearly all are found in other 

areas, especially in Greenland and Europe. 

There are nine species of gymnosperms, but 

several ·of these are of somewhat doubtful 

value in indicating age, arid traces of plants 

of this affinity are extremely rare in western 

Tennessee. The monocotyledons also number 

nine species, including a fan palm and a 

feather palm that is referred to the genus 

Geonomitcs and is· of a type that is prominent 

in the lower Eocene of the Raton Mesa region. 

Several of the monocotyledons appear to represent aquatic or semiaquatic species. · Thus, 

there is a well-marked Potamogeton and the 

mud~flat type Alismaphyl~'l.tm. In addition 

the forms named Phyllites hyd'rilloides and 

Phyllites hyd1·ooharitoides appear to represent 

aquatics. The former shows great resemblance to HydriUa, of the family fiydrocharitaceae, a genus supposed to be monotypic in 

the existing flora and widely distributed 

throughout the Old World. The latter appears to represent an Upper Cretaceous type 

of this same family, comparable in its habit 

with the existing genus Vallisneria. 

The dicotyledons of the Ripley flora number 105, ·of which 95 belong to the more 

primitive or choripetalous series, and only 

10 represent the more specialized Gamopetalae. Among the Choripetalae the anemophilous forms, regarded as primitive by 

some botanists and reduced by others, number 19. The largest alliance is the Rosales, 

with 14 species, all of which belong to the 

Leguminosae. As .two of these species are 

definitely Teferred to the Mimosaceae, three to 

the Caesalpiniaceae, and three to the ~apilionaceae, and as six can not be certainly 

referred to any one family of Leguminosae, 

none of these families can be considered larger 

than the others and all are less ·abundantly 

represented than some other families present 

in the Ripley : flora. The second laTg~st 

family is the La uraceae, with 12 species, 

but the recognition of minl.1te differences 

in the genera Oinnamomwm and .Lawrus 

tends to overemphasize their relative importance in the Ripley flora .. ·The family 

.Myricaceae is third in size, with 11 

species, all of which ~elong to the genus 

11/ yrica, which shows an extraordinary differentiation at this time. The next most 

abunda'ntly represented family is the Moraceae, with ten species, nine of which are. 

referred to Ficus and the tenth to a. striking 

new form of Artooa1•pus. Non(3 of the species 

of Ficus are individually abundant in the 

collections. Then follows the family 

Celastraceae, with seven species. The family 

Apocynaceae has five species, all of which 

are referred to the genus Apocynophyllurn. 

The Euphorbiaceae, Rhamnaceae, and 

Myrtaceae· have four species each, and the 

J uglandaceae, Fagaceae, Ternstroemaceae,. 

and Sapotaceae have three species each. The 

remaining families have only one or two 

species each.. The largest single genera are 

11/ yrioa, with 11 species, Ficus, with 9, and 

Oelastrophryllum, with 6. If the type represented by Oelastrophyllum were considered 

with the forms that I refer to Ternstroemites, 

which were formerly referred to Oelastrophyllum, they would constitute the most 

abundant type in both differentiation and individual abundance. 

Aniong the 105 species of dicotyledons of the. 

Ripley flora 68 have entire margins. This is 

64.7 per cent of th~ known forms. The ratio 

of entire leaves to the whole flora of woody 

dicotyledons has been shown by Bailey and 

Sinnott 6 to have a fa1rly constant relation to 

climatic conditions and altitude. According tc 

the figures compiled by these authors, over 70 

per cent of the woody dicotyledons of subtropical and tropical lowland floras haFe entire leaves. Their published percentagesrange 

from 71 per cent in the flora of Hongkong to 

86 per cent in the flora of the Malay States.· 

Comparisong. of fossil with existing floras ate 

always handicapped by the incompleteness of 

the fossil record, although, on the other hand: 

the vast majority of fossil forms are arborescent, so that the proble1n is simplified to that 

extent. As the Ripley .flora is obviously a lowland coastal flora, the question of altitude is 

eliminated. It would thus appear that the percentage of entire leaves in the Ripley plants 

accords well with the conclusions derived from 

0 Bailey, I. ,V.,. and Sinnott.· E. W., Scien.ce, new ser., vol. 

41, pp·. 832-833. 1915. 
14 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

the general facies of the flora that the climate 

was probably warm temperate and rather uniform and the precipitation abundant. 

The approximate outline of easter~ North 

America during Ripley time is well shown in 

the accompanying sketch map (fig. 2). The 

North Atlantic, as recorded in the deposits 

along the west coast of. Greenland, extended 

northward in the Davis Strait region between 

From Cape Cod southward the shallow se~L 

that covered the continental shelf overlapped 

the margin of the Piedmont Pla,teau, and a 

broad arm reached up the Mississippi Valley as 

far as Illinois. The middle of the continent 

was a region of shifting shore lines and shallow seas which con1pletely .sepa.rated eastern 

and western North America. Eastern North 

America was also separated from Central and 

FIGURE 2.-Mal> of North America showing the area of outcrop of the 

Ripley formation (f"Olid black) and the generalized relations of land 

(white areas) and sea (ruled areas) during Ripley time 

Greenland and Baffin Land. The extent of this 

arm of the sea is conjectural, as its sediments 

have been discovered nowhere except in west 

Greenland. They were laid down in extremely 

shallow water, and presumably the gulf did 

not extend northward much 'beyond the latitude. of Disco Island, or else it was of a very 

transitory nature, as there seems to have been 

a free }UJnd path of migration between Greenland and the Atlantic coast of North America. 

South America by a profound expanse of 

sea. 

Th'at the late Lower and earlier Upper 

Cretaceous floras of North America represent, 

in a broad way, a single botanic province is 

shown by the lack of dissimilarity between 

the Albian, Cenomanian, and possibly Turonian floras of. the East and the West. There 

are naturally elements in ·each not found in 

the other, but these are to be attributed to the 
ANALYSIS OF OTHER .UPPER CRETACEOUS FLORAS 15 

. imperfection qf the record or explained as 

reflections of minor local facies. The time 

represented in the midcontinenta.l region by 

the major portion of the Colorado and ~{ontana groups, however, was a time of independent evolution in. both the East and the 'iV est. 

The 'iV est was broadly connected with the 

gre'at land mass of Asia, and this fact might 

. seem to furnish the setting for a greater resemblance to the flora of Etirope than could 

be sho,vn by the flora of eastern North America. This does not appear to have been the 

case, ho:..vever, and .it would seem that there 

was still a shorter and readily traversed path 

from the east across the Arctic and north Atlantic, and this paleogeographic conception 

would be equally true if we regarded the two 

:t·egions as receiving the bulk of their plant 

population from a somewhat earlier Greenland 

center of radiation. 

It is interesting to see in this Ripley flora 

a characteristic local facies, and this is especially emphasized, as might have been expected, by the dicotyledons. Nearly all the 

ferns and all the conifers have an outside distribution, as befits their more ancient lineage 

and earlier radiatio.n, but of the angiosperms 

only 33 forms, or about 28 per cent, have been 

found in other areas. This is still more 

str:iking than appears from the bare s~'atement, for if Greenland is excluded as near the 

probable place of origin of the Upper Cretaceous floras or at least the ancient home· of 

those of eastern North America, it seems that 

only six of the angiosperms are common to 

dist'ant regions, such as Europe: These six 

are D1!JOphyllunL gracile, Ficus krausia.na, 

11/ agnolia capellini, Euphorbiophyllwm antiquum, OissUes crispus, and 11/yrtophyll·um angustum. . 

The Ripley floi:a shows a marked relationship to that of the antecedent Eutaw formation 

of this same region, to the Black Creek flora 

of the Carolinas, and to the Magothy flora 

of New Jersey and Mary land. As the known 

floras of the Eutaw and Black Creek are 

small and fragmentary this resembla.nce is 

all the more remarkable. Thus 16 of the 

Ripley species are common to the Eutaw, 19 

to the Black Creek, and 15 to the Magothy. 

The older Tuscaloosa flora of the eastern Gulf 

area has but six species that continue on into 

the_Ripley, and these are all widely distributed 

types, common to either Greenland or Europe .. 

It would thus appear that the Ripley flora 

consists of some few forms existing in this 

region. since Tuscaloosa time, with n1any new 

elements that were added by immigration or 

evolution in the interval between the Tuscaloosa and Ripley. 

In so far as the present records permit a conclusion,· the· Ripley flora may be regarded as 

the culmination of the earlier Cretaceous floras 

of eastern North America. Certain of its 

species are Ripley species only because of the 

somewhat inconsistent usage of the formational name Ripley by the Geological Survey. 

Thus Araucaria bladenensis and Ara~wa1ia 

jeffreyi, which are so highly characteristic 

of the Bl~ck Creek and Eutaw formations, 

are recorded from the Ripley formation of 

Georgia. They have never been found in the 

true Ripley of Alabama, ~1:ississippi, or Tennessee, and as I have shown elsewhere in this 

paper the Cusseta sand of the Ripley of 

Georgia is of the same age as the Coffee sand 

of the Eutaw of Tennessee. 

The Ripley flora includes a considerable 

number of forms that are cml.unon to the 

Patoot beds of Greenland. Thus eight of the 

Patoot species are found in the Ripley, and 

.he general facies is more similar than the 

number of identical species would indicate. 

There are also eight species cm.mnon to the 

Vermejo flora of Colorado and New Mexico, 

of which all but one are dicotyledon's and several, such as the abundant Oissites pandu1•atus, 

have been found nowhere else. Tllis would 

serve to confirn1 l{nowlton's contention that 

the V ermej o is older than Laramie, as the 

only Ripley species recorded from the Laramie 

iF Ll!y?ica to1·reyi, which also occurs in postLaramie deposits in the West. Five species are 

found in beds in the 'iV est that are refm~red 

to the Montana group, four in the ~{esaverde 

formation, two in the Fox Hills. and five 

in the Fruitland formation. . 

ANALYSIS OF OTHER UPPER CRETACEOUS FLORAS 

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS . 

Comparisons with European Upper Ci·eta~ceous floras show that five Ripley species are 

recorded from beds on that contin~nt classed 

as Cenomanian, two fron1 beds classed as 

Turonian, three from beds classed as Em-
16 THE FLORA OF T'HE Rlf'LEY FORMATION 

. scherian, and six from beds that are either 

Santonian or Campanian. The Ripley flora 

contains noticeable elements common to that 

of the sands of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), 

Germany. How many -it is not possible to. 

. determine, for large collections made around 

Aix-la-Chapelle by Debey were never studied, 

and only the ferns have received adequate 

treatment. The plants from the plastic clays 

of Baume (St. V aast), France, described by 

Coemans, and found also at La Louviere, 

Belgium, are probably of the same age. There 

has been considerable discussion and difference of opinion regarding the age of the sands 

of Aix-la-Chapelle. These sands contain a 

sparse shallow-water marine fauna with 

Exogyra, ·Trigonia, Eriphyla, lp,oceramus, 

and lenses of clay containing fossil plan,ts. 

The sands are overlain by a highly fossiliferous glauconitic sand-the Acti1wcarnax 

quadratus zone of the Campanian. This relationship would seem to indicate that the underlying plant-bearing beds represent the 

littoral and continental deposits of the Santonian or at most can not be older than the 

lower Emscherian Coniacian substage. Despite this, Haug refers these sands· to the 

Turonian. They are siliceous and crossbedded and in part represent· coastal dune 

sands, so that they might conceivably be considerably older than the overlying strictly; 

marine se~iments. The question is important, 

be.cause I regard the Ripley as of about the 

same age, but perhaps it can not be settled in 

the present state of our know ledge. I am disposed, however, to regard them as representing 

the Santonian substage, or upper Emscherian. 

The known ·Ripley flora contains no forms 

that are common to the abundant Wilcox r;r 

lower Eocene flora of the Mississippi embaymeilt region, the only forms doubtfully recorded from the Eocene in other regions being 

Geonomites schimperi and the wholly worth-

~ess li alymenites major. Despite this lack of 

identical species, which might be expected, the 

Ripley flora does contain a number of. types 

that bet::a-me. differentiated subsequently and 

are characteristic elements of the lower Eocene flora in southeastern North America. 

These are all angiosperms, the genera and 

species of the pteridophytes and some of the 

coniferophytes having become extinct and 

some genera of the coniferophytes having been 

restricted to other regions befQre the dawn of. 

the Eocene. Eocene prenuncial characters are 

seen in the Ripley Geonomites, Dryophyllum, 

Celtis, Artocarpus, Cappa1·is; Dalbergia, 

Gleditsiophyllum, Oedrela, Dillenites, Ternstroemites, N ectandra, Oinnam,mnum, species 

retained in the form genus Laur:us, llfyrcia, 

Chrysophylliwm, Bumelia, and Apocynophyllu1n. Many of these are coastal types 

that might be expected to persist in an 

only slightly changed environment, but 

the same is true as regards the habitat 

of most of the earlier Upper Cretaceous 

floras of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, so 

that these differences in the Ripley flora 

as· compared with antecedent floras may 

truly be regarded as of chronologie value. 

Detailed cmnparisons with the extensive Wilcox flora (Eocene) show many striking differences. In the 'Vilcox the old Mesozoic 

coniferophyte elements are all gone, and numerous genera of angiosperms found in the 

Ripley, commonly considered as temperate 

forest types, such as Salix, Fagus, Celtis., Liriodendron, Platantts, Acer, Oornophyllum, 

and Andromeda, were appaJ:'ently lacking 

along the Eocene coast . of the Mississippi 

Gulf, although presep.t in the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains region at that time. 

This would seem to indicate some climatic 

difference between Ripley and Wilcox conditions,. and in that event. the Ripley would be 

more distinctly temperate than the Wilcox. 

The most extensive, best-preserved, and 

earliest studied Upper Cretaceous ·floras, both 

in this country and abroad, have been: those 

in the continental deposits in1mediately pr~.­

ceding the transgression ·of the Upper Cretaceous sea, or in the initial deposits of that 

sea-such, for example, as the Dakota sandstone of Kansas and Nebraska, the Rarita~.l 

clays of .New Jersey, the Perucer beds of 

Bohemia, or the Niederschoena deposits of 

Saxony. In all the sections the plant evjdence 

rapidly diminishes in both variety and quality from botton1. to top.· A knowledge of the 

Ripley flora not only serves to offset this condition and furnish a basis for more precisely 

evaluating the passing of Cretaceous time 

but it introduces us to many of the smaller 

and more delicate forms., such as almost invariably fail of preservation in coarse deposits. 
ANALYSIS OF O'l'HER UPPER CRETACEOUS FLORAS 17 

Examples of the relative paucity of the 

later Cretaceous floras of the Atlantic Coastal 

Plain are furnished by noting that the Tuscaloosa, Raritan, and J\1agothy floras compris~ 

about 150 speci~s each, whereas in my report 

on the Upper Cretaceous floras of the world,7 

I listed but nine· species from the Ripley 

formation in Georgia, two from beds of that 

age in Alabama, and three from Tennessee. 

A foreign parallel may be taken from the 

Bohemian area. I-Iere the Perucer beds ( Cenomanian) have furnished 184 species, the Turonian 4 7, and the Chlomeker ( Emscherian) 

but 32. 

It m~1y be noted that of the genera. identified 

in the Ripley flora. 35~ or 51 per cent, are extinct. . ~1ost of these, which are angiospermous, are form genera and therefore not as 

precise as might be wished, although ·obviously 

some, such as 1'e'l"nstroemites, represent the 

stock from which the Tertiary and existing 

genera were differentiated, and it is noteworthy that 16 of the genera have not been 

recognized in post-Cretaceous deposits. The 

following are the ext_inct genera of the Ripley 

flora: 

Halymenites. 

Raphaelia. 

Dryopterites. 

Monheimia. 

Taeniopteris. . 

Protophyllocladus. 

Widdrii.1gtonites. 

Cunninghami tes. 

Moriconia. 

Geinitzia. 

Alismaphyllum. 

Doryanthites. 

Dioscorites. 

Geonomites. 

Dryophyllum. 

Men is perm i tes. 

Acaciophyllites. 

Mimosites. 

Caesalpinites. 

Gleditsiophyllum. 

Leguminosites. 

Euphorbiophyllum. 

Manihotites. 

Cissites. 

Grewiopsis. 

Dillenites. 

Ternstroemites. 

Laurophyllum. 

1\fyrtophyllum. 

Cornophyllum. 

Acerates. 

Apocynophyllum. 

Calycites. 

Carpolithus. 

Phyllites. 

That students in general have underesti· 

mated the contrast between Upper Cretaceous 

and Eocene floras is, I think, obvious. It is 

the fashion to picture the incoming of theAngiosperms in ·Upper Cretaceous time· as a 

sudden and overwhelming event, which in 

Cenomanian time transformed the J\1esozoic 

floras of ferns, cycadophytes, and conifers into 

an essentially Cenozoic flora of broad-leafed 

modern forests. At the beginning of Lower 

7 Maryland Geol. Survey, Upper Cretaceous, 1916. 

Cretaceous time the floras, as might be predicted a priori, were essentially of Jurassic 

type. Only gradually did they become typically Cretaceous, and those elements that give 

them a Cretaceous facies lingered in gradually diminishing numbers to the end of Upper 

Cretaceous time. Floras as early as the Albian show a variety of dicotyledons, including 

many still existing genera, but the numerical . 

representation. of dicotyledons in the rocks 

tends to be illusory, and a large number of 

the Cretaceous dicotyledons are more or less 

synthetic types, if one is justified in drawing 

such conclusions from the evidence of foliage 

alone. The lower Eocene introduces us to 

floras that are of a decidedly different facies 

and that distinctly show a great Cenozoic 

modernization, _despite the difficulty of reflecting this change in the current nomenclature 

of paleobotany. 

Moreover, when it comes to details the 

change is profound. If the Ripley flora is 

compared with the vVilcox flora of the same 

general region the two are ~een to be almost 

totally unlike, though living under simila.r 

environmental· conditions. Both are lowland 

coastal floras, both are warm temperate in 

type, and yet they have no common species. A 

tyro would immediately recognize the one as 

Cretaceous and the other as Tertiary.. The 

Cretaceous cycadophytes and conifers have 

disappeared in the interval between the two; 

the flowering plants are distinctly better differentiated and more modern. 

That these Eocene floras as well as the Upper 

Cretaceous dicotyledons .had ancestors is no 

more pertinent than the fact that the Eocene 

mammals had ancestors. In fact, the comparison is not inept, because the evolution of 

the flowering plants was,. I believe, the 1najor 

factor that made possible the evolution of the 

mammals. 

The other U ppe]: Cretaceous floras in various 

parts of the world that may profitably be compared with the Ripley flora are shown on the 

accompanying sketch map (fig. 3). Some of 

these are of great importance, such as those 

of Montana age in the western interio.r region 

of North America, or of especial interest because of their geographic position, such as that 

of the Patoot beds of Greenland. Others are 

worthy of comment because they are of approximately the same age-as, for example, the 
18 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLE·Y FORMATIO.N 

I 

plants of the Izumi series of Japan,' of southeastern France, of the Alpine Gosau beds, and 

o~ the Aix-la-Chapelle sands-even though as 

to the~e flora.s our information is still very 

incomplete. 

EU'fAW FLORA 

The first comparison that naturally suggests itself is· a comparison with the flora· of 

the Eutaw forn1ation, whose deposition immediately preceded that of the Ripley formation 

in this area. The Eutaw flora is still incompletely known. The Eutaw sediments in so 

far as they might preserve land plants successfully are either marine clays or littoral, 

prevailingly sandy deposits. The clays contain only decay-resisting forms such as Ara'n-

.are unknown in the Ripley, as well as the 

twigs and scales of Araucaria, which, although recorded from the Ripley, come fron1 

deposits of the same. age as the Eutaw in 

other regions, a~ I have already explained. 

These are preserved in the Eutaw because of 

their resistance to maceration, but they should 

be present also in the Ripley if they had not 

become extinct .. Similarly among the dicotyledons . the prevailing forms found in the 

Eutaw are coriaceous types such as Andromeda, Oinnamomurn, Fimts, jJf agnolia, M yrcia, 

jJf anihotites, and Scobalites. 

In the following list of the known Eutaw 

species those marked * are also present. in the 

Ripley flora. Of the 46 Eutaw species 16 continue into the Ripley, but the following genera 

FIGURE 3.-Sketchi map of the world showing the location M fossil floras that have 

been compared with the Ripley flora. 1, Ripley; 2, Black Creek and Magorl1y; 

3, Vermejo ;. 4. Montana group·; 5, Vancouver; 6, Patoot; 7, Izumi series; 8, Portugal ; 9, Aix-la-Chapelle; 10, Marseille, Fuveau, and Toulon; 11, Sub-Hercynian 

and Westph3.Iian; 12, Chlomeker beds of Bohemia and Silesia; 13, Gosau beds 

caria twigs and coriaceous dicotyledons, and 

the sands contain similar forms that succes3-

fully withstood the triturating action of the 

troubled waters, as no clay lenses with any 

extensive representation of the plants that 

gr:ew along the Eutaw shores have yet been 

discovered. 

The known Eutaw· flora, which has been 

. collected chiefly from the Chattahoochee Valley, in Georgia ; near Havana, in Hale 

County, Ala.; and near Beacon, in Decatur 

County,· and at Coffee Bluff, in Tennessee, 

consists of but 46 species. It includes no ferns, 

34 angiosperms, andll gymnosperms. Among 

the gymnosperms are the genera A ndrov_ettia, Brachyphyllum, 06phalotaxospermum, 

Oupressinoxylon, Sequ_.oia, and Tu.mion, which 

of the Eutaw have not been recognized in the 

R.ipley: Androvettia, Brachyphyllurn, Oephalotaxospermum, Oupressinoxylon, Dewalquea, 

Diospyros, P aliurus, Pterospermites, Sequoia, 

and Tumion. 

Andromecla cretacea Lesquereux:? (Ga.) 

Andromeda novaecaesareae Hollick. (Tenn.) 

Andromeda parlatorii Heer. (Ala.) 

Andromeda wardiana Lesquereux:. (Ga., Tenn.) 

Androvettia elegans Berry. (Ga.) 

Aralia eutawensis Berry. (Ga.) 

* Araucaria bladenensis Berry. (Ga.) 

* Araucaria jeffreyi Berry. (Ga.) 

Bauhinia alabamensis Berry. (Ala.) 

Bauhinia cretacea Newberry. (Ga.) 

Brachyphyllum macrocarpum formosum Berry. 

(Ga.) 

Cephalotaxospermum carolinianum Berry. 

(Ala.) 
ANALYSIS OF OTHER UPPER CRETACEOUS FLORAS 19 

Cinn:unomum heerii Lesquereux'! (Ga., Tenn.) 

*Cinnamomum newberryi Berry. (Ga.) 

Cupressinoxylon sp. Berry. (Tenn.) 

Dewalquea smithii Berry. (Tenn.) 

Diospyros primaeva Heer. (Tenn.) 

*Doryanthites cretacea Berry. (Ala.) 

*Myrtophyllum augusta Velenovsky. (Ga.) 

*Ficus crassipes ( Heer) Heer. (Ga., Tenn.) 

*Ficus krausiana Heer. (Ga., Tenn.) 

Ficus ovatifolia Berry. (Ga., Tenn.) 

*Geonomites schimperi Lesquereux. (Tenn.) 

*Halymenites major Lesquereux. (Tenn.) 

Juglans arctica Heer. (Ga.) 

Laurophyllum elegans Hollick. (Tenn.) 

Lam·us plutonia Heer. (Ala.) 

Magnolia boulayana Lesquereux. (Ala., Ga.) 

*Magnolia capellinii Heer. (Ga.) 

*Malapoenna horrellensis Berry. (Ga., Tenn.) 

*Manihotites georgiana Berry. (Ga., Tenn.) 

*Menispermites variabilis Berry. (Ga.) 

*Myrcia havariensis Berry. (Ala., Tenn.) 

Paliurus upatoiensis Berry. (Ga.) 

Phragmites pratti Berry. (Ga., Tenn.) 

Phyllites asplenioides Berry. 

Pterospermites carolinensis Berry. (Tenn.) 

Sabalites carolinensis Bei-ry. (Tenn.) 

Salix eutawensis Berry. (Ga., Tenn.) 

Salix flexuosa Newberry. (Ga.) 

Salix lesquereuxii Berry. (Ga.) 

Sequoia ambigua Heer. (Ala.) 

Sequoia reichenbachi (Geinitz) Heer. (Ala., 

Ga.) 

*Ternstroemites ripleyensis Berry. (Tenn.) 

Tum ion carolinian urn Berry? (Ga.) 

*Zizyphus laurifolius Berry· (Ga.) 

Ripley plants that have been found also at 

pre-Eutaw horizons and are therefore legitin1a~ely considered as probable unknown members of the Eutaw flora are 

Widdringtonites reichii Ettingshausen (Heer). 

Moriconia cyclotoxon pebey and Ettingshausen. 

Moriconia americana Berry. 

Myrica brittoniana Berry. 

Leguminosites canavalioides Berry. 

BLACK CREEK FLORA 

The second flora of interest in this connection is the Black Creek flora of the Ca.rolinas. 

This is of approximately the same age as that 

of the Eutaw and contributes the following 

elements to the Ripley flora that have not 

yet been discovered in _the Eutaw: 

Protophyllocladus lobatus Berry. 

Mor:conia americana Berry. 

Cunningh:unites elegans (Corda) Endlicher. 

Myrica brittoniana Berry. 

Ficus celtifolius Berry. 

Celastrophyllum carolinensis Berry. 

Pachystima? cretacea Berry. 

Laurus atanensis Berry. 

Apocynoph~•llum sumterensis (Berry) Berry. 

.These also should probably be regarded 9.S 

forms which in all probability were present 

in the Eutaw flora but were not preserved or 

have . not been discovered. 

MAGOTHY FLORA 

The Magothy flora, which is found from 

Marthas Vineyard to Maryland, is much 

larger than either the Black Creek or the 

Eutaw flora. The beds in which it occurs 

are more remote from the Ripley area geographically and aiso in part definitely older. 

It is of especial interest because in the northern Atlantic Coastal Plain the · fossil plants 

are found in large. part in the Magothy formation, which is transgressed by the Matawan 

formation-a marine glauconitic deposit that 

has yielded only two or three fossil plantswhereas in the Carolinas and the Gulf region 

alternation of conditions· or near-shore phases 

of the marine formations have furnished :t 

considerable number of fossil plants of the 

same genern1 facies throughout a 1nuch greater 

thickness of sediments. 

The Magothy flora, as at present known,· 

consists of 195 species, many of which represent surviving Cenomanian types. A large 

number of these survive from the underlying 

Raritan formation. In 1914 I made the statement 8 that there were no known Cenomanian 

floras in North America, unless the Raritan 

flora of the East and the Washita flora of the 

vV est represented that stage of the European 

section, and that the post-Raritan and preRipley floras of the East and the Dakota sandstone flora of the West were of Turonian age. 

Nothing that has come to light since. this statem.ent was written has rcast any doubt upon its 

c.orrectness. On the contrary, additional information serves to strengthen the opi~ion, and 

I would even be inclined to include the upper 

. Ra1~itan flora in the Turonian category, although the New Jersey Geological Survey still 

maps the Raritan formation as Lower· Cretaceous. Fifteen species of the Magothy flora 

are found in the Ripley. None of these, however, are especially abundant or characteristic 

8 Berry, E. W., The Upper Cretaceous and Eocene floras of 

South Carolina and Georgia: 1!. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

84, p. 71, 1914. 
20 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

of the Magothy with the exception of certain 

long-lived forms like Widdringtonites reichii, 

Ounn.inghamites elegans, Fio~ts krausiana, 

Ficus crassipes, M agnoUa capellini, and Oinnamomum newberryi. Elements of the Magothy· that apparently became extinct before 

Ripley time are the numerous species of Andr·mneda, Gleichenia, H ymenaea, Laurus, 

Liriodendron, Magnolia, 11/yrsine, Pinus, Podozamites, Quercus, Salix, Sassafras, Sequoia, 

Sterculia, lV illiamsonia, and Zizyphus. 

PATOOT FLORA 

Interest in the Cretaceous Arctic floras has 

always been very great and ·is enhanced by the 

theoretic possibility of their representing the 

original center of radiation of the Upper Cretaceous angiosperms. The stratigraphy of 

western Greenland has rested almost entirely 

on the paleobotanic work of Heer, who segregated the somewhat similar lithologic serie~ 

. exposed there into three · units-the !Come, 

Atane, and Patoot beds, entirely upon the evidence of their contained floras. Subsequent 

exploration has shown that the limits of these 

units· are exceedingly doubtful. and that. although the main bodies of these three floras 

are distinct, the boundaries of the units are 

largely arbitrary. There rcan be no doubt that 

the ICome flora is Lower Cretaceous or that 

the Atane flora belongs in the early half of 

the Upper Cretaceous. The Patoot flora, 

which occupies a stratigraphic position be· 

tween the Atane flora and that of the overly~ 

ing Tertiary-Heer's Arctic Miocene-is the 

one that is of 1nost interest in the present con~ 

nection. 

The Patoot beds of western Greenland appear to be purely a paleobotanic unit,· if they 

really merit the term unit, because lithologically they can not be differentiated from the 

older Atane beds or the younger Tertiary deposits. The Patoot flora is 'a relatively large 

one, comprising about 125 species. Of this 

number 77 are dicotyledons, of which 7 are· 

refer!·ed to Quercus and o.nly 2 to 11/yrica, although some of the supposed oaks are certainly Myricas. Species of lJtf yric.a, Oinnanimnum, and La~trus are identical with Ripley 

forms, and, in addition, the following di-· 

cotyledonous genera are represented in both 

floras: Acer, Acerates; Aralia, Carpolithus, 

Oelastrophyllum,· Oissites, Ficus, Juglans, 

Legundnosites, Platanus, Rhmnnus, and Zizypitus. The Monocotyledonae number 5, and 

one of these-a Pota;mogetor~r-is close to a 

Ripley species. 

There are 20 species of ferns in the Patoot 

flora, and among them species of Raphaelia 

and Asplenium, are cominon to the . Ripley. 

The conifers number 18 species and include 

che genera Oyparissidium, Dammara, Ounninghamites, Geinitzia, Glyptostrobus, lnolepis, 11! oriconia, Pinus, Sequoia, T axites, and 

W iddringtonites. Five different species of 

Sequoia are recognized. Five. of the conifer-

·ophyte genera occur in the R.ipley, and the 

species of Ounningharnites, M oriconia, and 

W iddrin,qtonites fr.om the two regions are 

identical. 

There is little in the Patoot flo1·a to mark 

its occurrence 2,400 miles farther a\-ray fr01n 

the Equator than the Ripley flora. A slight 

difference might p,erhaps be predicated fro111 

the absence of palms or Artocarpus and the 

abundance of conifers in the Patoot flora supplemented by the presence in the Ripley flora 

of such genera 'as Dioscorites, Oapparis, Dalbe'rgia, Ternstroemites, · Bumelia, Oedrela, 

Dillenites, and Ohrysophyllum, which are sup.: 

posed to ·indicate a warm habitat and which 

are not represented at Patoot. 

There has been some difference of opinion 

regarding the age of the Patoot flora. The associated invertebrates were classed as Senonian 

by De Loriol, and VVhite and Schuchert incline to the belief that what Heer called the 

Patoot beds are transitional both stra.tigraphi- · 

cally and paleontologically from Cretaceous 

to early Tertiary. The few invertebrates of 

either· the Atane or the Patoot beds are of 

slight significance, as Stanton has stated, and 

therefore the conclusion that these beds are 

somewhat near the age of the Pierre and Fox 

.I-Iills of our "\Vestern States is wid1out any 

satisfactory evidence, although possibly true. 

The flora, as perhaps overdifferentia.ted by 

Heer, appears to have a reasonable degree ·of 

hon1ogeneity and distinctness of facies, ·although it contains a la.rge number ( 34) of 

forms that are comma~ to the Atane beds. 

The flora contains 20 Dakota species, 22 

Raritan species, 19 Magothy. ~pecies, 8 Tuscaloosa species, and 4 Black Creek species. There 

are 11 species common to the Perucer beds of 

Bo~wmia and Moravia, 6 to Nicderschoena, 7 to 
ANALYSIS OF OTHER UPPER CRETACEOUS FLORAS 21 

the European Turonian, 3 to Aix-la-Chapelle 

(Aachen) and 3 to the vV estphalian Cretaceous 

(Campanian). Four have been identified in 

the ~1ont.ian of Europe. 

The large number of Atane species present, 

as well. as the numerous Dakota, Raritan, and 

~1agothy species, preclude considering the flora 

as young as, for example, the Laramie. It is 

singular, if the Patoot flora is younger than 

the Emscherian, that it should have so much 

more in common with the Cenomapian and 

Turonian floras than with the extensive Lo\ver 

(Campanian) and Upper (Maestrichtian) 

Aturian floras so ·extensively developed 'in 

· northern Germany. On the other hand, the 

four Montian species are not without significance. It is possible that several horizons of 

t~1e Upper Cretaceous a.re represented in the 

Patoot, although this seems doubtful. 

An· interesting feature of similarity between 

the Patoot and Ripley floras is the abundance 

of dicotyledonous leaves with· toothed margins-a feature which, according to the statistics compiled by Bailey and Sinnott, is indicative of nontropical conditions. 

VERMEJO FLORA 

The Vermejo flora of southeastern Co.lorado 

and northeastern New Mexico as recently 

n~onographed by ICnow lton ° comprises 108 

forms-1 fungus~ 5 algae, 14 ferns, 9 conifers, 

5 monocotyledons, 60 dicotyledons, and 14 

forms that were .not specifically identified. . It 

contains 17 species of Fi(Jus, of which only one 

is common to the Ripley. Other prominent 

elements are 8 species of V ibur1];um~ and 5 

species of Salix. · Ferns are more numerous 

and varied than in the Ripley. Genera found 

in the Vermejo but not represented in the 

Ripley include Abietites, Acrostichwm, Amelanohier, Ane1nia, Brachyphyllum, Oanna, 

Oolutea, Oredneria, Diospyros, Fraxinus, 

Gleichenia, H edera, 0 smunda, P alaeoaster, 

Phaseolites, Polystichu1n, Pteris, Pterosper-

'lnites; Que'l·c'lts, Seq'uoia, Viburnum, and Wood-

~oa1·dia. The two floras have eight identical 

species, and doubtless there were many small 

or delicate forms in Vermejo time that failed 

of preservation or detection in the relatively 

coarse material in which the plant fossils occur 

° Knowlton, F'. H., TJ., S. Grol. Survey Prof. Paper 101, pp. 

~42-:.:83, 1917. 

and that would increase·the number of identical forms. Probably some of the small forms 

and leguminous leaflets represented in the 

Ripley flora are due to the fact that the Ripley 

was a coastal flora, but aside from this environmental factor my experience indicates that in 

general lithified sediments are less productive 

in well-preserved remains or small forms than 

fine clays like those of the Ripley in northern 

Tennessee. 

VANCOUVER ISLAND 

From the Upper Cretaceous of Vancouver 

Island CN anaimo, Port MeN eill, Bayne~ 

Sound) and the probable extension of these 

beds on Protection and Newcastle islands the 

late Sir 'iVilliam Dawson recorded a considerable flora of about 80 species. These in-

.eluded 10 ferns, 2 .cycads, 6 coniferophytes, 

3 monocotyledons, two of which are fan palms, 

and 58 dicotyledons. Two ginkgoes are recorded, as well as six species of Ficus~ and 

six species are referred to Quercus. 

This flora appears to have little in common 

with the Ripley flora and seems to include 

some discordant elements, but this may be 

due to the lack of precision in the identification and illustration of the material. 

COLORADO GROUP 

The flora of the Colorado group of the 

western interior is, unfortunately, too imperfectly known to afford profitable comparisons. 

It comprises 24 species described by l{no'w lton 

from the Frontier formation of Wyoming, 2 

species of fungi from the Graneros formatioD 

of Nebraska, and 18 species described by Dawson from the Mill Creek formation of British 

Columbia, whose age is in doubt· and may b~ 

somewhat older. The Ripley flora contains 

no species common to these florules, nor do 

these in fact show any especial similarities to 

the pre-Ripley floras of the Atlantic Coastal 

Plain, so that one is forced to conclude that 

the similarities between the Dakota flora of 

the West and the Raritan, Tuscaloosa, and 

~1agothy floras of the East were not continued through Colorado time. 

MONTANA GROUP 

With the florules of the Montana group the 

Ripley has more in common. Thus the Mesaverde formation contains 5 species common to 
22 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

the _Ripley, the Vermejo. formation contains 

8, the Judith River formation 2, the Trinidad ·sandstone 1, the Fruitland formation 5, 

the IGrtland formation 1, and the Fox Hills 2. 

The so-called Laramie flora as it stands in 

the literature is composite, and until the recent publication of the revision of these floras 

by Knowlton/ 0 stu,dents _have had difficulty in 

making correct evaluations. The revised list 

of plants from the Laramie formation of the 

Denver Basin as given by l(nowlton 11 shows 

only a single species, 11! yrica torreyi, common 

to the Ripley. This species is a v~riable one 

that n1ay really be composite, and in any event 

it does not detract from the obvious weight 

of the evidence, which shows that the Ripley 

and Laramie floras are extremely dissimilar. 

These differences are so great and of such 

a character that they indicate not regional 

variation but difference in age. Thus the 

Laramie flora contains a variety of forms 

prenuncial of Eocen3 floras, such as Anenvia, 

Anona, Aristolochia, Artocarpus, Oeanotl~us, 

Oerci8, and Do'fnbeyopsis. The many species 

of Ficus, Juglans, Laurus, Phyllites, Rhiunnus, Salix, and Zizyphus are all different from 

those of the Ripley. I conclude that the Ripley flora is of pre-Laramie age and that the 

Laramie of the West is .represented in the Atlantic Coastal Plain by the interval between 

the Cretaceous and the Eocene. This conclusion, it seems to me, is as secure as it is possible 

to make interpretations of the past, and it is of 

especial interest because those who make correlation tables from the literature rather than 

from the study of forn1er life have frequently 

correlated the Ripley with the Lara-mie. 

JAPAN 

Comparisons between the Ripley flora and 

those of other continents naturally are of less 

value than comparisons with floras of the same 

land mass, and this is especially true of comparisons with the floras of higher stages of the 

Cretaceous, because most of the foreign work 

has been either not done at a-ll or else is very 

old and sadly in need of revision. For the first 

of these reasons it is not possible to compare 

the Ripley flora with the fossil plants of the 

Izumi series of Japan. The Izumi sandstones, 

1

° Knowlton,. F. H., The Laramie flora of the DP.nver Basin : 

U. S. Geof. Survey Prof. Paper 130, 1922. 11 Idem, pp. 9'5-96. -

so named from the nwunta.in range of that 

name along the west coast, and beds of similar 

age (Upper Cretaceous) are widespread 

throughout Japan,: in pla,ces over lying the 

Ryoseki series. They contain a fauna of which 

Trigonia pocillijor1nis Yokoyama is the most 

characteristic species. Fossil plants ha~e been 

reported from a nun1ber of localities and are 

said to include Sequ.oia, Populus, Sa;lix, Q1tB1'-

cus, Fagus, Platanus, Oinnamo1nJU111, Arundo, 

and other genera. More detailed information 

regarding this exceedingly interesting flora is 

greatly to be desired. 

PORTUGAL 

Similarly in Portugal a considerable flora 

from beds of Senonian (probably Emscherian) 

age has been noticed by DeLima, but no details beyond tentative generic identifications 

are available. Among these the genera common to the Ripley are Oinnanwmun1, Dammara, Sabalites, La;urMs, Afagnoli(J), Afyrica, 

and ZizyphMs. 'Additional information regarding this flora is also grea.tly to be desired. 

as the earlier Portuguese floras of the Albian 

and Cenomanian and still older Cretaceous 

show such a striking parallelism \vith those of. 

our Atlantic Coastal Plain. 

GERMANY 

A full account of what is known of the 

flora of the sands of Aix-la-Chapelle and 

near-by regions across the border of Rhenish 

Prussia was published in 1916.12 The age 

of this flora is somewhat uncertain, but it is 

of note in that it contains six species common 

to the Ripley-three ferns, two conifers, and 

a dicotyledon--and three of these are also 

common to the Patoot beds of western Greenland. 

A considerable number of fossil plants have 

been described from the Harz region (subI-Iercynian) and Westphalia in Germany, but 

their resemblances to those of the Ripley are 

on the whole not_ especially close. Fossi~ 

pla-nts are not uncommon in the Emscherian 

of the Saxon-Bohemian border region (Chlomeker beds). In addition to more or less 

worthless remains, 32 species, mostly well 

characterized, have been described, and these 

12 Berry, E. W., Maryland Geo1. Survey, Upper Cr_etaceous, 

pp. 266-271, 1916. . 
ANALYSIS OF OTHER UPPER CRETACEOUS FLORAS 23 

include two, Oissites crispus and My?·tophill'un?J angust'l.tm, that are common to the Ripley. 

GOSA U FLORA 

'I'he Gosau beds of the Tyrol· and eastern 

Alps contain fossil plants at a number of localities, as at St. Wolfgang, "'\Viener-Neustadt. 

Brandenberg, and Gri.inbach. These are of 

interest because the Gosau beds, in part at 

least, are the equivalent of the Ripley. The 

published list of species is small and shows 

no especial affinities with Ripley !orms, but 

much undescribed material from Griinbach is 

reported by !Crasser to include a number of 

Ripley genera. 

FRA:NCE 

Plant-bearing deposits at a number of localities in southeastern France-namely, the 

Turonian near Marseille (Var), the Enlscherian of Beausset, near Toulon (V ar), and 

the Aturian lignites of Fuveau (Bouches-duRhone)-are of interest in the present con~ection, though here again the floras have hot 

been adequately described. The chief similarities to the Ripley are to be found in the 

Turonian, which contains two identical species, 

Eupho1·bioprhyllum antiquum and W idd1ingt01~ites reichii, and a number that are similarfor example, in Arauca;ria, Artoca:rpus, Dryophyl7Jwln, llfenispermites, and 11/yrica. This' 

resemblance does not indicate identity in age, 

as the known Turonian floras of Europe are 

more closely allied to the Eutaw and Black 

Creek floras of North Alnerica, but it is of 

importance in preventing the assignment of a 

too young age to the Ripley. 

"'\Vith the European floras referred to the 

l\1ontian stage the Ripley flora has nothing in 

common. 

BEARING ON CORRELATION 

Long-distance correlations are obviously uncertain, particularly if they are intercontinental, and although experience has shown that 

the march of evolution of the Upper Cretaceous floras was remarkably parallel in North 

America and Europe, the absence of reliable 

data at present from the European region renders precise comparisons out of the question. 

After a careful consideration of the evidence 

available I am of the opinion that the Ripley 

flora is of Emscherian age, although it might 

be as young as the Campanian substage of the 

Aturian. I am strongly of the opinion that it 

is not as young as the Maestrichtian or upper 

substage of the Aturian. As regards our 

western Cretaceous section the Ripley flora indicates contemporaneity with the l\1ontana 

group. More precise correlation is not possible 

at the present time. 

The appended table shows the members of 

the Ripley flora that have an outside distribution, with ·the occurrence and range of each. 

It serves as a basis and graphic summary of 

the preceding discussion. 
24 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

'Ripley plants found in other formations 

1

0.. ~ 0.. ;;; 0.. a> .,;, a, .a .... .!!.l a> ~ ce .... ~·~ ~::~ 6~::~ .2 ~ § .2 j:. o § .2 ~::~ .~ 'g § § ~ .2 ~=: ::: gj ~ § ._ ~::~ 1:1 .2 1:1 ~ .;9 .ce § .~ .§ 0~ ~.~ ~~ .9 ~'CJ ~ VJQ) .9~ '0 ~.9 ~.s a:>:z:; o.9 ~~ <1).9 ~·en a ~ ·;:::: §§ 

. ~ ~ {1 ~ i ~ ~ § ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ j ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ § ·~~ ~ ~ ·~ ~ ~!I ~ i ·~ i ] i ~ ,.:g.S ~ :l.S ~ . ::_ .s C\l 5 .!:::; 2 0 rn ~.2 ~ ~ ta ~ g a> ::; t:l §o ~I=Q,.,.E-t~:s: f:OA;tl ~~~~"'<!>~"'<...:!Jl.i ~OE-t~w. 

t __ l_}_j-~-:~-1-:~-~.-~-:-e~-~n-fo-J-~-~-l-~-~d-~e-~--~-~~-~-~-~ ~~~ ~~~ =~~ ~=h~ ~~~ ~=~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~- ~J=~ =~= =~~ j:~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~-~- Protophyllocladus lobatus ____ X X --- --- 1

--------- ------------ -·--~'--- ---------1--------- ---~--- Widdringtonites reichiL_:. _______ X X X'--- ___ ? ________________________ ---'--- X ________ _ Moriconia cyclotoxon_.:. __________ X "'-- X I ___ --·- ______________________________ , ____________ X 

Moriconia americana _________ X X ___ ---'--- --------- __ .. ------ --- --- --------- 1--------- ---~--- Geinitzia formosa _________ ------ X X X!--------------- x· --- X I X X~--- --- 1

--------- --- X 

Araucaria bladenensis _____ X X X --- ---'--- --------- --------- ------ ------ ---'--- --- ------ --- Araucaria jeffreyi_ ________ X X __________________ ---~--- ___ ,_:._---~--- ___ I ___ ---~--- ______ -·- __ _ Cunni.nghamites elegans_ _ _ _ _ _ X X _ _ _ X _____ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X __ - _____ - X _ _ _ X __ _ 

Dammara acicularis _________________________________________________ X ___ ---,--- ___________ _ 

· Doryanthites cretacea_ _ _ _ _ X X X --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Geonomites schimperi_ ____ X _________ --------------------- ------ ------ ------ ? ------------

{¥~~~~: Myrica js~~~~f;t~pi~~====== === === === === === === === === === === === === === -~- === === === === === === === === torreyi_ ________________________________ -~- ______ X X X X ___ X X ______________ _ 

Myrica brittoniana ___________ X X ___ ------------------------------------------------------ Salix gardneri_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _______________________ _ Dryophyllum gracile ___________________________________ ;, ______________ :.. ________ - _ _ _ _ _ _ X X 

Ficus krausiana ___________ X X X X _________ --- ___ --------- ------------ ------ X X --- ---

Ficus crassipes ____________ X X X X _:..._ --- X X ------------------ 7 ----------------- ------

Ficus celtifolius ______________ X _______________ ------------ --------------------- _..:_ --- ------ Ficus leei _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X X _ _ _ _ _ _ X _______________________ _ 

Liriodendron laramiense ___ ·--- __________________ --- -~- --- --- --- X ------------------ ------ ---

~:~~~!~~·ffe:1~~~i;bili~=== ~ -~- -~- -~- === === === -~~ === === ·=== === === === === ===~=== === -~- === === ==~ 

;t~~~~~~~~~;~~~~~~ :x: ::: ~x~ -~~ ~~~ ~~~ :x: _·_ ~~~ -~- .-r~ ~-: -~- .:~ -~- ~~~--~E-x~~:--~- 8f:1lf::t~~~~f~~:~~~-:-~::: ::: :?: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: :::1::: ::: ::= :~: ::: ::: ::: =:: ::: :::.? ::: 

Zizypl1us laurifolius _______ X _________ --- --- --- --'- --- --- --- ------ --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Ternstroemites ripleyensis_ _ X _________ -- ___ -· _-- --,... --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Cinnamomum newberryL __ X X X X X ? ___ X --- --- --- --- ·--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Malapoenna horrellensis ___ X X _______________ --------------- ------------------------ ------ Laurus atanensis _____________ X X ___ --- ______ ? ------------------ ·--- ------------------ ---

t:~~~: ~~i:~J~~~f;~====== === === === === === === ::= === ::= ::= -x.- ::= -~- -x- -~- ::: ::= ::: ::: ::: ::=1::: 

Laurophyllum ripleyensis ____ · ____ -~- ____________ --- --L ___ X --- ___ , ___ --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---: Myrcia havanensis ________ X ____ · ___________ : __ --- --- --- --- ·--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Myrtophyllum angustum __ X X _______________ --- ______ ------------ ------------ X ---------

Apocynophyllum sumterH:l~~~~it~~~~j;r ____ ~===== -x_- -~-======I============ -x_- --- --- -x_- -x_- -x_- --- --- -x_- -x_- === === === === 
LYCOPC:>DIALES, FILICALES 25 

SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTIONS 

Phylum LEPIDOPHYTA ~ 

Order LYCOPODIALES ~ 

Family SELAG INELLACEAE ~ 

Genus· SELAGINELLA Beauvois~ 

Selaginella laciniata . Lesquereux 

Sel.a.ginella laoiniata Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. and 

Geog. Survey Terr. Bull., vol. 1, p. 378, 1875; 

U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr. Ann. Rept. 

for 1874, p. 297, 1876; idem for 1876, p. 499, 

1878; 'l'ertiary flora, p. 47, pl. 64, figs. 12, 12a, 

1878. ' 

Knowlton, F. H., U. S. Geol. Survey ~~lL 163, 

p. 24, pl. 3, figs. 5-8, 1900. 

This species is described as follows by 

Knowlton: 

Branches regularly, pinnately arranged at right 

angles to the main rachis; leaves ( ?) clo$e, tworanked, deeply laciniate; laciniae linear, slightly inflated toward the point, either simple from the base 

or dichotomous. 

This species w'as described by Lesquereux 

from matedal collected by the Hayden Survey at Point of Rocks, Wyo. Subsequently 

Knowlton obtained more complete material 

from this same locality, which is refer-red to 

the Montana group. Both of these authors 

clearly recognize the uncertain botanic relationship of these fossils, seeking comparisons 

with algae· and various Lycopodi_a.Ies. Identical but less complete material is not uncommon in the Ripley formation of western Tennessee. It appears to me to represent a vascular plant, but I am unable to reach any 

positive conclusions on this point and therefore retain it under the name origin'ally given 

by Lesquereux, as it constitutes a factor in the 

geologic correlation of the Upper Cretaceous 

of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and that of the 

western interior. At the same time it should 

be emphasized that the reference of this form 

to the genus Selaginella is entirely problematic and in. my judgment entirely without 

foundation. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of the 

Ripley formatiop, Cooper· pit, near Hollow 

Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. · 

Phylum PTERIDOPHYTA 

Order FILICALES 

Genus ASPLENIUM Linne 

Asplenium calopteris (Debey and. Ettingshausen) 

Beer 

Plate I; figures 9, 10 

. Ren·izia oalopteris Debey and Ettingshausen, K. 

Akad. Wiss. Wien Denkschr., Band 17, p. 216. 

(36), pl. 5, figs. 13-17, 1859. 

<J,qplenium oalopte1·is Heer, ]flora fossilis arctica, 

vol. 7, p. 5, pl. 48, figs. 5a, 6a, 6b, 7, 8, 1883. 

This species was characterized as follows 

by Debey and Ettingshausen: 

Fronde sterili bi-v. tripinnata, pinnis 'nferioribus 

patentissimis, summis subarrectis, strictis v. subflexuosis, regulariter alternis, lineari-lanceolatis, _1-3 

centim. circiter longis, decrescenti pinnatis; pinnulls 

sessilibus, discretis v. basi connat:s, patentibus v. 

subarrectis, ovato-rotundatis v. ovato-oblongis, integerrimis, apice rotundatis, subalternis, confertis, 

2-4 millim. longis, 11;2-2 millim. latis, summis pinnatifido-lobatis, terminali minima simpto-rotundata 

vix discreta ; fronde fertili pinnulis vel lobis latioribus, bullatodilatatis inaequalibus ster·les magnltudine superantibus; soris ovalibus vel subrotundi::;, 

minimis [ ?] . 

This species .was desyribed from specimen-5 

obtained in the Upper Cretaceous of Aix-laCha pelle ( A·achen) in Rhenish Prussia and 

was subsequently identified by Heer in material from the Patoot beds of western Greenland. Both identifications were based upon 

·more complete material than that found in 

the Ripley formation of Tennessee. The 

Ripley material shows tiny leathery rounded 

connate pinnules, ~xactly like some o"f those 

figured by Debey and Ettingshausen and b)_ 

Ifeer. ·In some specimens the branches from 

the midvein are simrple, but as a rule they are 

once forked. A wide band ·along the rachis 

. and branches following the n1idvein, and the 

basal subsidiary veins on the distal side show 

a thick mass of coaly material that suggests 

some forms of asplenoid fructifications. Micro-

. scopic preparations fail to snow any traces 

of structure or spores, and this peculiar appearance may merely represent the enlarged 

proximal portion of the veins and an exceedingly large and flattened .rachis. 
o· 

26 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

Small fragments lacking fructifications are 

especially liable to be confused with Gleichenia, but these and the foliar habit are 

strikingly diffe.rent. · 

Occurrence : McNairy sand member of the 

Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow 

Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. 

Genus RAPHAELIA Debey and ·Ettingshausen 

Raphaelia neuropteroides Debey and Ettingshausen 

Plate I, figure 8 

Raphaelia neu1·opteroides Debey and Ettingshausen, 

K. Akacl. Wiss. Wien Denkschr., Band 17,. p. 

220 ( 40) , pl. 4, figs. 23-28 ; pl. 5, figs. 18-20, 

1859. 

Heer, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 7, p. 6, pl. 60, figs. 

3, 3b, 1883. . 

The sponsors for this species described it in 

the following terms : · 

R. fronde bi-v. tripinnato-pinnatifida ; rhachibus 

strictis v. apice subfiexuosis, subteretibus ; pinnis 

appositis V. SUbappositis, patentibus V. arrecto-patentibus, remotis, strictus v. saepius arcuatis, subfiexuosisque; pinnulis suboppositis v. alternis, superioribus ses·silibus v. subsessilibus v. liberis v. pinnatificlo-lobatis, inferioribus petiolatis, e basi cordata 

v. subcordata ovatis v. ovato-oblongis, integerrimus v. 

saepius sinuatis v. sinuato-lobatis v. pinnatipartitis· 

acl pinnarum ordinem novum tendentibus, apice obtusis ; nervo medio apicem versus tenuissimo fiexuoso ; 

nervis secundariis tenuibus, plus minus profunde 

iteratimque furcatis, summis simplicibus. 

The material from the Ripley that is referred to this species is scanty but shows fragments qf thin pinnatifid pinnae exactly like 

those fron1 the Pa.toot beds of Greenland which 

Heer referred to this sp~cies. Comparison 

with Debey and Ettingshausen's figures of type 

material from the sands of Aix-la-Chapelle 

is less satisfactory, as their material was very 

fragmentary and they included in t~is species 

a considerable variety of forms, some with a 

neuropteroid base,· as the above-quoted diagnosis indicates. Whether the original species 

is composite can not be determined .. 

The Greenland and Tennessee materials are· 

also verv similar to specimens from the Bohemian C~etaceous which Bayer 13 described as 

Gymnogramme bohemica. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, and 

1a Bayer, Edwin, Einige neue Pflanzen. der Perucer Kreideschichten in Bohmr.n, p·. 45, text fig. 14, pl. 2,. fig. 2, 1899'. 

Fl'ic, .Anton, and Baye1·, Edwin, Naturwiss. ·Landesdurchforschung Bohmen .Archiv. Band 11, p. 70, text fig. 6, 1901. 

Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, Carroll County, 

Tenn. 

Raphaelia minuta Berry, n. sp. 

Plate I, figures 5-7 

Fronds small and lax, probably bipinnate. 

Rachis feeble, winged. Pinnae ovate, variable, 

6 to 8 millimeters in length, divided into three 

to seven pinnule-like divisions of irregular 

ovoid form, the proximal ones sublohate, the 

distal ones usually becoming narrowe-r and 

simpler but sometimes remaining united to 

form a· sphenoid sublobate api~al segment. 

Veins thin, dichotmnous, fiabellate. Separating sinuses narrow. Midvein conspicuously 

winged. Texture thin but not meriting the 

term membranaceous. No traces of fructifica:tion. 

This species appears to be entirely distinct 

from previously described forms. It is based 

upon a small arrwunt of material, without. 

clearly defined generic characters, so that it 

has seemed proper to . refer it to the form 

genus Raphaelia, proposed by Debey and Ettingshausen in 1859 for fern remains from the 

Upper Cretaceous sands of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Its minuteness and lax character are somewhat 

suggestive of some of the Hymenophyllaceae, 

as, for example, H yrnenophyllum australe 

Willdenow, but in my judgment it is not a 

filmy fern. It might also be compared with a 

variety of existing ferns in the genera Oystopteris, Pleurosorus, W oodsia, and Aspleniu1n, as 

well as in other and unrelated genera. In the 

absence of fruiting characters there is little 

profit in extended comparisons based merely 

on form. In some· respects it seems most suggestive of a variety of both fossil and modern 

forms that have been referred to Asp.Zenium, 

and I do not doubt that it is an Upper Cretaceous member of the family Polypodiaceae and 

probably of the tribe A.splenie-ae,. which appear 

to have been abundant and varied during Upper Cretaceous time and m~ny species of. which 

are represented by fruiting material. The 

most similar fossil form, identical except for 

its greater regular'ity of outline, is Aspleni7!m 

tenellurm Knowlton,14 which comes from. the 

Montana group of the West. 

Occurrence : 1\icN airy sand member of the 

Ripley formation, Cooper pit, nea.r Hollow 

Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. 

14 Knowlton. F. H .. Flora of the Montana formntio~: U. S. 

Geol. Survey Bull. 163. p. 19, pl. 3, figs. 1, 2, 1900. 
FILICALES 27 

Genus MONHEIMIA Debey and Etti~gshausen I in the region of the sinus., but normally a vejn 

. detaches itself from the midvein at a very Monheimia aquisgranensis Debey and Ettingshausen t I d' f d' t d · acu e ang e, ascen 1ng or some IS ance an 

Plate I, figures 1, 2 

ll.'lonheintia aq1tisgmnensis Debey and Ettingshausen, 

Die urweltlichen acrobryen Kr~idegebirges 

Aachen : K. Akad. Wiss. Wien Denkschr., Band 

17, p. 211 (31), pl. 4, figs. 3-10, 1859. 

after giving rise to two branches turning 

sharply outward and proceeding to the margin i,n a course parallel with that of the two 

branches. The lamina is not strictly linear 

but expands slightly dist'ad. 

· f Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of the The following is the original descriptiOn o Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow this species : 

M. fronde bipinnatipartita vel pinnatisecta, laciniis 

nrrecto-patentibus vel arrectis, alternis, remotis, decurrentibus, lineari oblongis, anguste frondosis, 1-3 

milliill. circitm· longis, 1lh-5 millim. latis, apice acuminntis, integerrimis; rhachibus costisque Ionge flexuosis, tenuibus, glabris, subteretibus; soris in summitatibus laciniarum copiosis, ma~imam fronclis anRock, Carroll County, Tenn. 

Genus TAENIOPTERIS Brongniart 

Taeniopteris sp. 

Plate I, figures 3~ 4 

gustae laminam tegentibus, a costa mecliana remoti- In the collection from the Cooper pit, near 

oribus subhaemisphaericis. Hollow Rock, there are several fragments of 

Although it is true ·that Debey and Ettings.,. the lamina of a linear frond, pinna, or pinnule, 

hausen describe sori which they take to indi- ' which are readily recognizable and yet too incate a polypodiaceous affinity, and no traces of 

sori are seen in the Tennessee material, they 

were inclined to see and idealize fructifications in poorly. preserved material from Aixla-Chapelle and in other material where such 

features were nonexistent, as for example in 

the gymnosperm lJf oriconia, so tha·t in the absence. of actual specimens one may well doubt 

the accuracy of both descriptions and figures. 

The Tennessee material is scanty, and I have 

no opinion to offer regarding. its botanic affinity. It would be without intere11t were it not 

for the significan~e attached to the appearance on both sides of the Atlantic at about 

the same ti1ne of a variety of identical. plant 

fossils, of whieh this is a peculiar example, 

tha.t have not been detected in the anrecedent 

rocks of either rr.gion. The present species 

also shows simila,rities to the figures of another from Aix-la-Chapelle which Debey and 

Ettingshausen call Zonopteris goepperti, but 

as that forn1 is based exclusively on what is 

said to be fertile material and is described as 

having a crenate margin, the American material is considered to be that of ill onheimia. 

It may well be questioned if a number of specific and generic distinctions in the classic paper by these authors are not more finely drawn 

thaii the facts warrant. . 

. In the Tennessee material refei·red to M on-

~uAn~ia the venation is well preserved and cons:ists of relatively stout veins that are. invariably forked. There mn,y be a single fork, a::: 

complete for adequate diagnosis. They are of 

a coriaceous texture and range from 1 to 1.6 

centimeters in width, with a fairly prominent 

midvein, · which is not more prmninent on 

either the upper or lower surfaces. The laterals are stout, largely immersed in the leaf 

substance; they dive.rge from the lateral margins of the midvein at wide angles, forking 

once almost immediately, and proceed in par· 

allel courses to the margins. Weathering of 

the thick substance of the lamina often gives 

the appearance of. a crenate margin, but I 

have satisfied myself that the margins are 

entire. · 

The question of the generic reference is 

one on which opinions will differ. 1\::now.t .. 

ton 15 has referred similar but somewhat 

larger fragments from the Montana group. of 

Wyoming to Asplenium, but it se~ms better to 

·refer the present material to Taenioptem~ 

which is after all a form genus without any 

especial significance regarding botanic relationship. 

By Brongniart's definition 16 the present 

fragments belong in Taeniopteris. Heer 17 described a Taeniopteris deperdita from the 

Upper Cretaceous of Greenland, but this was. 

based on an uncertain fragment which is at 

111 Knpwlton, F. H., Flora of the Montana formation.: U. S. 

Geol. Survey Bull. 163, p. 20, pl. 3, fig. 11, 1900. 6 Brongnlart. A. T., Prodrome d'une hlstoiL·e. des v~getaux 

fossiles, P'· 61, 1828. · . ·" 

11 Heer,. Os,vald, Flora fossilis a.rctica, vol. 7, p. 8, pl. '48, 

fig. 14, 1883. . 
THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

least specifically different from the Tennessee 

::;pecimens. These are not dissimilar to llf aTattia cTetacea from the Upper Cretaceous of 

Bohemia, described by· Velenovsky.18 There 

is also s.ome resemblance to an entire-margined 

Nilsonia, as, for example, Nilsonia bohemica, 

from the Upper C~etaceous of Bohemia~ deRcribed by Velenovsky/ 9 but this resemblance 

is purely superficial, as Nilsonia has simple 

\cP.ins and the lamina at the top of the ra =:his. 

Occurrence : l\icN airy sand member of the 

Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

~tnd Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, Carroll 

Couuty, Tenn. 

Family POLYPODIACEAE 

Genus DRYOPTERITES Berry 

Dryopterites stephensoni Berry 

D1·yopterites stephensoni Berry, U. S. Geol. Surve_y 

Prof. Paper 84, p. 103, pl. 17, figs. 1, 2, 1914. 

This species is fully described in the publication cited aboye, and it has not been discovered 

outside of the type locality .. 

Occurrence: Cusseta sand member of Ripley 

formation, cut on Central of Georgia Railway 

llf2 miles northeast' of Byron, Houston County, 

Ga. 

Phylum CONIFEROPHYTA 

Order CONIFERALES 

Genus PROTOPHYLLOCLADUS Berry 

Protophyllocladus lobatus Berry 

7'hinnfeldi.a n. sp. Berry, Johns Hopkins Univ. Clrc.,· 

new ser., No. 7, 1907, p. 81. 

Protophyllocladtts lobatus Berry, Torrey Bot. Club 

Bull., vol. 38, 1911, p. 403; U. S. Geol. Survey 

. P.rof. Paper 84, p·. 17. pl. 2, figs. 9-13, 1914. 

The present record is based on a few fragments in the Ripley formation of Tennessee. 

The species was originally described from 

rather complete material from the Middendorf 

arkose member of the Black Creek formation 

in South Carolina. Following is a quotation 

of the original, description : 

Leaves (phyllocluds) of large size, lanceolate or 

oval in general outline, either entire with crenate 

margins, rounded apex, and narrowly cuneate base or 

· compound through the development of opposite lat18 Yelenovsky, Josef, Farne der bohmischen Kreideformation, p. 9, pl. 1, fig. 13, 1888. 111 Velenovsky, Josef, Gymnospermen der bohmischen KL·eideformation, P- 11, pl. 2, figs. 25-28, 1885. 

eral lobes. Axial vascular strand very stout below, 

becoming very thin and finally disappearing by repeated branching apically. When the leaves are 

lobate, subordinate opposite vascular strands form the . 

ax.is of the lobes, and these also are. generally but 

not invariably lost before reaching the tips of the 

lobes by giving off innumerable secondary branche.s. 

Margins in.·all specimens are rather remotely undulate-crenate, and the tips are all rounded. Secondaries numerous and thin, diverging from the main 

axis of the phylloclad or the axis of the lobes at very 

acute angles, curving outward, some simple but many 

dichotom.ously forked, and a few several times 

forked. Lobes when present are separated by cuneate, 

narrowly rounded sinuses which terminate some dis-

·tance from the main axis. The largest specimen, 

which is still incomplete Loth at the apex and at the 

base, measures 8 centimeters in length and 5 centimeters from tip to tip of the lower lobes, the entire 

upper portion measuring about 1.5 centimeters in 

width. 

These remains are superficially like fern fronds, 

especially in specimens which are compound, and 

'vere it not for the presence in the Cretaceous of 

other Phyllocladus-like remains with a demonstrated 

gymnospermous structure (for example, A nd1·ovettia) 

their reference to this genus would seem hazardous. 

The entire specimens are strikingly like some of the 

forms of Protophyllocladus subintegritolius ( Lesquereux) Berry, of the Raritan and Magothy formations, or like Protophyllocladus polymorph~ts ( Lesquereux) Berry, from higher western American horizons, and even the compound specimens have an unlobed apical portion of comparable length which is 

also similar in appearance to the two species just 

mentioned. The compound forms are superficially 

like Thinnfelclia rhomboidalis Ettingshausen,20 the 

type of the genus Thinnfeldia, whose systematic position has been the occasion of so much controversy and 

which has been variously regarded as a fern, as u 

cycad, and as a conifer. The present species shows 

. important differences, however, aside from being 

much younger, and it is confidently believed to be 

unrelated to the ·various older Mesozoic species of 

1'hinnfeldia which have been described . 

It may also be. compared with various forms from 

the Upper Cretaceous of Dalmatia discussed at great 

length by Kerner, 21 who refers them to the genns 

Pachyptcris, which he regards as cycadaceous in 

nature. 

The present species is believed to be closest to 

Protophyllocladus subintegrifolius, a species which 

is abundant in. the Atane beds of Greenland, the 

Dakota sandstone of Kansas and Nebraska, the 

Raritan formation of ·New Jersey, and the Magothy 

formation from Marthas Vineyard to New Jersey, and 

which commonly assumes a sublobate form. This is 

especially shown .in unreported collections made by 

the writer in the ·l\Iagothy formation of New Jersey. 

:lO Ettingshausen, C. von,. K.-k. geol. Reichsanstalt Abh., 

vol. 1. pt. 3, No. 3, p. 2, pl. 1, figs. 4-7, 1852. 

21 Kerner, F. von, K.-k. geol. Reichsanstalt Jahrb., vol. 45, 

p. 3!), 1896. 
CONIFERALES 29 

No new light is shed upon the habit or systematic position of the genus by the meager 

amount of material in the collection from 

T'ennessee. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand me1nbei· of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Genus WIDDRINGTONITES Endlicher 

Widdringtonites· reichii (Ettingshausen) Heer 22 

Ji'·rcnel'ites 1·eioh·i·i Ettingshausen, Kreicleflora von 

Nieclerschoena, p. 12 (246), pl. :.t, figs. 10a-10c, 

1867. 

lVidcl1'•ingtonites ·mich'i-i Heer, Flora fossilis arctica, 

vol. 6, Abt. 2, p. G1, pl. 28, fig. 5, 188~. 

Berry, Maryland Geol. Survey, Upper Cretaceous, 

p. 793, pl. 55, fig. 1, 1916. ' 

l\1eclium-sized branches with more or less 

crowded, slender, elongated fastigiate twigs, 

bearing reduced ovate-subulate leaves, spirally 

arranged. Both mici·osporangiate and megasporangiate cones have been found. The cone::; 

are small oval bodies 5 to 12 millimeters long 

by 3 to 7 millimeters in cha1neter, usually pcorly preserved, said by Ettingshausen to. be axillary in position but evidently often terminal, 

as evinced by some of the Raritan material and 

by so1ne of the better-preserved cones from the 

Cenomanian of Bohemia and l\1or.a.via. The 

latter material clearly shows that the cones 

consisted of four scales. This would ally it 

either with the subgenus lVidd1'ington.ia of the 

genus Oallit1'i8 Ventenat, to which Eichler in 

his treatment of the living species in Engler 

and Prantl ( 1887) refers Endlicher's genus, or 

to the subgenus E'U,oallit1'is Brongniart, which 

also is characterized by four cone scales. Euoallitris has a single living species of northern 

Africa, and lV idd1·ingtonia has three or four 

species of southern Africa and ~1adagascar. 

l'he propriety of Eichler's classification may 

well be questioned, and in any event paleobotanists must necessarily prefer the older segregation of F1·enelal and lViddrvngt'on.ia and 

their respective fonn genera. 

There seems to be little doubt that the present species should be. refernicl to 111 idd1·in,r;· 

tonia, as Velenovsky and !Crasser have done. 

but as the term TVidd?·i~ngton~£tes ~s equally inclicative of its true affinity, little is to be gained 

by making the proposed change. 

::::The extensive synonymy of this species has J?een given 

In several recent publications and need not be repeated .. 

100913-25---3 

This species, which is not rare in the Ripley 

formation of western Tennessee, is probably 

the n~ost common conifer of the Raritan formation. It v;ras described originally by Ettingshausen from the Cenomanian of Niederschoena, in Saxony, as a specit:s of F1·enelites. 

'Vhen Heer discovered it in the Greenland 

1naterial, where it ha,s been collected from 

both the Atane and the Patoot beds, he tran~­

ferr·ed it to the present genus. It has subsequently been reported from the Cenomanian 

of Bohemia and ]\;fora via, from the l\1agothy 

.formation at numerous localities, and from the 

sot~thern New England islands. It has .also 

been reported from the Tuscaloosa formation 

·of Alabama, where it is abundant at a number 

of localities, and is apparently represented in 

the Dakota sandstone by the remains which 

Lesquereux referred to Glyptost1·obus. 

Occurrence: l\1cN airy sand Inember of" 

Ripley formaaon, Cooper pit, near 1-Iollow 

Rock, a quarter of a mile west of Buena 

Vista, Carroll County, Tenn. 

Genus MORICONIA Debey and Ettingshausen 

[K. Akad. ·wiss. Wien Denkschr., Band i7, p. 239, 

1859] 

Leafy twigs, apparently deciduous in habit, 

bifacial, phylloclad-like, made up of dec.ussatc 

4-ranked leaves, those on the flat faces rounded, those folded at the margins pointed, the 

whole resulting in a st:r:ictly geometric pattern. No traces of fructifications known. 

The type of the genus was described in 1859 

by Debey and Ettingshausen in their account 

of the ferns fron1 the sands of Aix-la-Chapelle. They. consideted ill m'ioonia a fern, "as 

did Heer the first specimens collected from 

Greenland, and there is no doubt· that specimens in which the outlines of the leaves a're 

indistinct are very fernlike in appearancr.. 

Saporta pointed out the coniferophyte nature 

of this genus in 1868, comparing it 'vith Libooed1"tt8 and Thuiopsis, 23 and most subsequeil't 

P.uthors, including Schenk, Newberry, and 

Lange, hav'e referred the genus to the Cupressinaceae. Two species have been recognized, 

although the differences betwe·en them are 

slight. I-Ieretofore these two forms have 

never been found associated, and this fact 

2a Saporta, Gaston de. Soc. geol. France 1\Iem., 2d ser., vol. 

s. p. 301, 1868. 
30 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION . 

largely influenced their separation. Now, 

however, both forms are known to occur at 

the same horizon in the Ripley formation of 

Tennessee-at a single locality in the MeN airy 

sand member. There seems to be little doubt 

that these two expressions of 11! oriconia. habit 

represent the same or closely related species 

and that the differences are due to the relative 

age or position of the twigs. They certainly 

do not represent either chronologie or geographic variations. At the same time the 

two forms are strikingly i1nlike in appearance, 

and after mature consideration it seems best 

to emphasize this difference in appearance by 

different names, as it seems probable that the 

larg.er mutants are progressing in the direction of the genus Androvettia:. 

Moriconia cyclotoxon Debey and Ettingshausen 

Plate III, figures 1, 2 

Moriconia, cyclotoxon Debey and Ettingshausen, K. 

Akad. Wiss. Wien Denkschr., Band 17, p. 59, 

pl. 7, figs. 23-27, 1859. 

Hee·r, Flora fossils arctica, vol. 6, Abt. 2, p. 49, 

pl. 33, figs. 1-9b, 1882 ; idem, vol. 7, p. 11, pl. 

53, fig. 10, 1883. 

Lange, Deutsche geol. Gesell. Zeitschr., Band 42, 

. p. 665, pl. ~m. · fig. 4, 1890. 

Schenk, Palaeophytology, p. 318, [ig. 220, 1890. 

Newberry, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 26, p. 55, 

pl. 10, figs. 11-22, 1896. 

Hollick, New York Acad. Sci. Annals, vol. 11, 

p .. 57, pl. 3, fi~. 10; p. 418, pl. 37, fig. 8, 1898; 

U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 50; p. 46, pl. 3, figs. 

·16, 17, 1907. . ' 

Berry, New Jersey Geol. Survey Bull. 3, p. 8G, 

pl. 8, figs. 3-6, 1911. 

Pecopteris kudlisetensis Heer, Flora fossilis arctica, 

vol. 3, Abt. 2, p. 97, pl. 26, fig. 18, 187-1. 

Twigs of somewhat varying size and proportions, consisting of a thick central axis, 

bearing two strictly opposite rows of more or 

less reduced or extended, abruptly pointed 

lateral twigs, the whole covered with closely 

appressed .decussate leaves, those on the faces 

short and evenly rounded, those terminating 

at the margins slightly longer and pointed. 

Substance not at all thickened, as in the genus 

Brachyphyllum, but thin, although not as thin 

as in the allied species 11! oriconia americana. 

The material from the Ripley formation of 

Tennessee shows long, slender forms like the 

larger one figured, in which the narrow lateral 

twigs are only about 2 millimeters in width 

1nd 10 to 12 mill~meters in length, proximad 

with seven cycles of leaves. They decrease 

somewhat in length upward and then increase 

considerably, so that distad they have a length 

of 17 millimeters and show about 12 cycles of 

leaves. A detached fragment of this form 

·from the locality in Henry County, also figured, has similar narrow lateral twigs, but 

these are about 3 centimeters in length with 

17 or 18 cycles of le~ves. In all the material 

the leaf covering of the main axis, though present in ·juvenile forms, is less markedly developed than in 1.l/. americana and tends to become obliterated both by age and by fossilization, so that· it is rarely preserved in detail as 

in that species, although its character is wen· 

shown in some of the specimens frmn the 

Raritan formation of New Jersey figured by 

Newberry. · 

The species was described originally from . 

specimens obtained in the sands of Aix-laChapelle (Aachen), and its superficial resemblance. to a fern, especially when poorly preserved, led Debey to insist always on its fern 

nature. Similarly the first specimens discovered by Heer in the Greenland Upper Cretaceous were described as a species of Pecopteris. There can be no doubt, however, of its 

gymnospermous nature. 

Subsequently. the species was recorded from 

the Saxon ·Cretaceous (Turonian~) , from the · 

Atane beds ( Cenon1anian) and Patoot beds 

(Turonian or Emscherian) of Greenland, from 

the Raritan formation (Cenomanian) of New 

Jersey and Staten Island, and from the Magothy formation (Turonian) of Block Island. 

It has not been' found elsewhere in our Atlantic Coastal Plain until its recent discovery 

in the Ripley formation of western Tennessee, 

in beds which I regard as probably Einscherian 

in age. There has been considerable difference 

of opinion regarding the equivalents in the 

\Yestern United States and in Europe of the 

· Coastal Plain Upper Cretaceous formations, 

invertebrate paleontologists leaning to the 

view that they were younger than the paleobotanic evidence seemed to ·admit. 

From its bearing upon the place of origin 

and Upper Cretaceous dispersal of floras the 

determination of the oldest horizon at which 

11! oriconia cyclotowon has been found is a matter of considerable interest. This, it seems to 

me, is in the Atane beds of western Greenland. 

These beds were fully discussed by Heer, who 
I 

CONIFERALES. 31 

considered them the equivalent of the Cenomanian of Europe. The few poorly preserved 

invertebrates associated with the plants arc 

stated by "'\Vhite and Schuchert 24 to indicate 

strongly an equivalence with the. Pierre and. 

Fox I:Iills of the western United States and 

'v.ith the Senonian of Europe. This is not the 

place for an analysis of this statement, but it 

would seem that a decided paleozoologicopinion 

might well await the discovery of a representative fauna, and -that meanwhile the evidence 

of a flora of 182 fossil plants, 36 of which are 

common to undisputed Cenomanian localities 

ir~o Europe (Bohemia; ~f··Tavia, and Saxony), 

might be considered as having· some bearing 

on the question .. Although dogmatism is to be 

deprecated, I can not co.nceive that the general 

relations of these floras permit their being considered younger than Turonian, and in any 

event the present species of JJ[ m'ico1-da fully 

confirms the general~y accepted notion of a 

northern origin and southward migration of 

these eai'lier Upper Cretaceous floras. · 

As yet no traces of ill O'riconia have been 

found in the abundant plant beds of the Upper 

Cretaceous of the western interior; of North 

America nor in the upper Cretaceous of eastern 

Asia, recently differentiated on Sakhalin Island 

by ICryshtofovich. The specimens from the 

Atane beds figured by I-Ieer in 1882 show considerable variation, particularly the very great 

extension of some of the· lateral twigs shown 

in his Plate XXXIII, Figure 4, where they 

are twice as long as the balance of the laterals 

on the same branch. His Figure 2· on the same 

plate shows a· form of branching not observed 

in the rest of the JJ[ oriconia. material and remotely suggests a comparison with the sup,. 

posed· staminate aments of Androvettia. It is 

true that as drawn by I-Ieer this small lateral 

cluster has the same form and arrangement of 

parts as the nor1i1al JJ! miconia twig, hut I-Ieer 

was not~rious.ly careless about detail and in 

illustrating poorly preserved material often 

supplied the deficiency of the specimen, and in 

this case he might well have assumed the presence of the central axis and regularly decussate 

leaves, whereas this branch may really have 

been like those of A nd1·ovettia. that have been 

considered to represent staminate sporophy lls. 

2' White, David, and Schuchert, Charles, Cretaceous series · 

of the west coast of Greenland: Geol. Soc. America Bull., 

vol. !), p. 366, 1898. 

Occurrence: l\1cNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, I-Ienry County, and 

Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, Carroll County, 

'I'enn. 

Moriconia americana Berry \ . 

Plate Iii, figures 3, 4 

jJ1oriconia u1nericana Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., 

vol. 37, pp. 20, 186, 1910; U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 84, p. 26, pl. 7, figs. 1-4, 1914; 

Maryland Geol. Survey, Upper Cretaceous, p. 

802, pl. 56, fig. 1, 1916. 

.Morioonia cyclotoxon Berry, New York Bot. Garden 

Bull., vol. 3, p. 65, pl. 43, fig. 4; pl. 48, figs. ·1-4, 

1903 [not Debey and Ettingshausen] ; Torrey 

Bot. Club Bull., vol. 31, p. 70, 1904, vol. 33, pp. 

165-167, 1906. 

Leafy twigs, consisting of a main axis and 

short, reduced, lateral branches of decussate 

leaves. Along the main axis on each flat face 

of the branch these leaves are relatively and 

closely appressed, with' a narrow base and a 

broad semicircular apex. The corresponding 

lateral pairs of leaves are thin and pointed 

and transversely compressed. In the axis of 

each of these marginal leaves is a reduced 

. Lranch flattened in the same plane as the main 

branch, so that the. whole arrangement is 

strictly opposite and distichous. These reduced lateral branches have leaves of the same 

character and ·arrangement ~s those of the 

main branch. The bifacial leaves are, however, somewhat smaller and blunter, and the 

marginal leaves are broader and less acute. 

They become rapidly smaller distad, it usually l'e(~uiring not more than five or six pairs 

to complete the blunt lateral reduced twigs. 

The main vascular axis is stout, but that of 

the .lateral twigs is thinner and much less 

pron1inent. The leaves fail to show any veins. 

The texture was apparently coriaceous but obviously thin in most of the specimens. The 

Tennessee material shows evidence of a slight 

thickening along the keel toward the apex. of 

the lateral leaves and along the truncated 

margin of the bifacia.l leaves.· The leaves are 

concrescent, and the lowermost lateral of each 

subm:dinate twig has disappeared on the distal 

side, its position being occupied by the long 

and· narrow ma.rginal of the main axis. The 

great majority of specimens have extremely 

reduced lateral twigs, but in the specimen .of· 

this species · from the Magothy formation of 

New Jersey th~se laterals are extended and 
32 THE FLORA OF T'HE RIPLEY FORMATION 

· reach a length. of 3 centi1neters and a width 

of 9 millimeters and consist of eight or nine 

pairs of leaves. 

M oriconia americana is known only from 

the Atlantic Coastal Plain, having been found 

previously in the Magothy fonnatibn of New 

Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland; the Black 

Creek formation of North Carolina; and the 

Middendorf arkose n1ember of the Black 

Creek formation of South Carolina. The occurrence in the Ripley formation of Tennessee greatly extends its range, both geographic and geologic, and indicates its prob- . 

able occurrence in the intervening region between South Carolina and Tennessee, as well 

as in the intern1ediate Eutaw formation, but 

it has not yet been found at this horizon Ol' 

in these regions. · jJf oriconia, especially jJJ. 

mnericana, is strikingly like the genus 

.._<ind1·ovettia in vegetative habit. Three 

species are known in Androvettia, of which 

one has furnished structural material and 

two show what is either a curious dimorphism 

or strobilar habit. It would require but a fur-

. ther reduction of the lateral twigs of jJf oriconia americana and the resulting oblitera-. 

tion of leaf outlines to reach a form like that 

of Androvettia elegans Berry, and from this 

type by continued reduction we arrive at ~1. 

statenensis I-Iollick and Jeffrey and ·finally 

reach A. carolinensis Berry, which is the most 

reduced and phylloclad-like of the whole 

series. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Genus GEINITZIA Endlicher 

Geinitzia formosa Heer 25 · 

Gein'itz'ia to1·mosa Heer, Zur Kreideflora von Quedlinburg: Schweizer. paleont. Gesell. Neue Denk- · 

schr., Band 24, p. 6. pl. 1, fig. 9; pl. 2, 1871. 

Newberry, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 26, p. ~1, pl. H, 

fig. 9, 1896. 

Hollick, New York Acad. Sci. Trans., vol. 16, p. 

129, pl. 12, figs. 1, 2, 1897. 

Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 163, p .. 28, pl. 

'5, figs. 1, 2, 1900; U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 98, p. 333, pl. 85, fig. 3, 1916; U. S. Geol. 

Survey Prof. Paper 101, p. 251, .pl. 31, figs. 1-3, 

1918. 

5 This species is said to be represented by OarJJOUthes 

hcm.locin1ts of Schlotheim. See also Otto·. Ernst von, Additamente zur Flora des Quadergebirges in der Gegend urn 

Dresden und Dippoldiswalde, pt. 1, pl. 5, figs. 1-·3, 5, 6, 

1852. 

Berry, New York Bot. Garden Bull., vol. 3, p. G7, 

1903 ; Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 31, p. 68, pl. 

4, figs. 2, 3, 1904; New Jersey Geol. Survey 

Bull. 3, p. 97, 1911; Maryland Geol. Survey, 

Upper Cretaceous, p. 801, pl. 54, fig. 6, 1916; 

U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 112, p. 61, 1919; 

Geinitzia sp. Newberry, New York Lye. Nat. Hist. 

Proc., vol. 2, p. 10, 1873. 

~equoia r.eichenbachi Lange (in part), Deutsche geol. 

Gesell. Zeitschr., Band 42, p. 770, 1890. 

Stanton and Knowlton, Geol. Soc. America Bull., 

YOl. 8, p. 137, 1897. 

Sequoia gracillima Newberry, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 

26, pl. 9, figs. 1-3, 1896 [cones only]. 

Berry, New York Bot. Garden Bull., vol. 3, pl. 48, 

figs. 21, 22, 1903 ; Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 

31, p. 69, pl. 2, 1904; Am. Geologist, vol. 34, pl. 

15, 1904; Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 32, p. 44, 

1905; idem, vol. 33, p. 165, 1906; New Jersey 

State GeologiRt Ann. Rept. for 1905, p. 139, 

1906. 

Geinitzia graoillima Jeffrey, Bot. Gaz., vol. 51, pp. 

21-27, pl. 8, 1911 . 

Heer's description is quoted below. 

Strobile ovato-cylindrici, squamis rachi validae 

spiraliter insertis, apice peltatis, disco conavo, margine 

crenato, toroso; semina sub quavis squama quatuor 

( ?) , squamarum stipite crasso inserta, striata . 

Ramulis elongatis, virgatis, foliis omnino tectis, foliis 

subfalcat~s, angustis, apice valde attenuatis, uninerviis, ramis adultis pulvinis rhombeis obte~tis. 

The American occurrences of cones of this 

species have been commonly referred to S eq~(oia g1·acillima Newberry, a composite m'ade 

up of Geinitzia cones and W idd1·ingtonites 

foliage. These cones are exceedingly abundant in the lHagothy formation at Cliffwood 

Bluff, N. J., where those that are more or less 

pyritized are washed out of the clays by storms 

and high tides. The cones preserved as flattened lignitic inclusions are somewh'at different in appearance, and it is believed tluJ,t material of this species in that condition of preservation was the basis for the Raritan forms 

that were identified as jJficroza1nia gibba 

(Reuss) Corda by Newberry. 26 A single cone 

is contained in the M'agothy collections made 

along the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal in 

Delaware. 

The foliage, which resembles somewhat that 

of Sequoia reichenbachi (Geinitz) Heer, as 

well as that of Ounningharnites squ.amosus 

Heer, shows rather thick t'~igs with slender 

curved needle le'aves interspersed with small 

26 U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 26, p. 45, pl. 12, figs. 6, 7, 

1896. See also Berry, E. W., New Jersey Geol. Survey Bull. 

3, P'· 78, 1911. 

\ 
CONIFERALES 33 

scalelike leaves. This foliage is unquestionably distinguished with difficulty from that of 

Seq1wia 'reichenbachi ( Geinitz) Heer, and it 

is very likely that some of the records of. the 

latter, which are so extensive, both geographically and geologically, include occurrences of 

Geinitzia. An extensive review of the literature 'vould be necessary to d~termine this 

point, and even this might prove fruitless. 

In general the twigs of the Sequoia 'are more 

slender with stouter leaves all of one kind, 

whereas in Geinitzia the b~igs are stouter and 

the leaves are longer and more falcate and are 

interspersed with small scalelike leaves. Except for the last feature these criteria 'are of 

uncertain value and lead to much confusion. 

The cones are, of course, very readily distinguishable, but except for their. presence at 

the type locality and their prodigious abundance in the Magothy formation around Raritan Bay they 'are not represented with the 

foliar remains, so that all these identifications 

are hence open to more or less doubt. 

For the foregoing reasons any extended 

comment on the distribution of Geinitzia fornwsa is not warranted. The type material 

came from the Senonian of Saxony, and there 

is no do~1bt that it is represented in the Magothy formation of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. 

Purely foliar records include the sands of Aixla-Chapelle, the Montana group in 'Vyoming, 

the Vermejo formation in Colorado, and the 

Fruitland formation in New Mexico. It · 

would· seem singular that there .aJ:e no Greenland records of Geinitzia, because Greenland 

ahnost invariably constitutes one of the three 

regions furnishing records of Cretaceous forms 

common to North America and Europe. This 

is readily explained, however, by the probable 

assumption that some of the numerous foliar 

remains from Greenland which I-Ieer referred 

to one or another of his numerous species of 

Sequoia actually represent Geinitzia. In the 

absence of specim@ns it is not worth while to 

base any conclusions on figures of these species. 

Occurrence: J\1cN airy sand member of Ripley :formation, Cooper pit, 11ear I-Iollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Genus CUNNINGHAMITES Presl 

Cunninghamites elegans (Corda) Endlicher 

0 unning hamites elegans (Corda) Endlicher, Synopsis 

coniferarum, p. 270, 1847. 

Newberry, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 26, p. 48, pl. 5, 

:figs. 1-7, 1896. 

Hollick, New York Bot. Garden Bull., vol. 2, p. 

402, pl. 41, fig. 11, 1902. 

Berry, New York Bot. Garden Bull., vol. 3, p. 64, 

1903 ; Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 31, p. 70, pl. 

3, figs. 7, 8, 1904; New Jersey Geol. Survey Ann. 

Rept. for 1905, p. 138, 1906. 

Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 257, p. 135, pl. 

15, fig. 1, 1905. 

Hollick, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 50, p. 41, pl. 3, 

fig. 1, 1906. 

Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., . vol. 37, pp. 186, 

505, pl. 20, figs. 1-4, 1910; U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 84, pp. 24, 106, 1914; Prof. Paper 

112, 1919. 

This widespread species has not been found · 

in the Ripley except in the Cusseta sand member near Byron, Ga., which, as I have shown, 

is the chronologie equivalent of the Coffee.sand 

member of the Eutaw formation. It is essentially a, somewhat older species, but as it has 

been recorded in the Judith River beds of 

Montana there is no known reason why it 

should not range up into the true Ripley in 

the Atlantic Coastal Plain. 

Occurrence: Ripley formation, Cusseta sand 

member, near Byron, Houston County, Ga.. 

Genus ARAUCARIA Jussieu 

Araucaria bladenensis Berry 

Arauca1·ia bladenensis Be1·r1J, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., 

vol. 35, p. 255, pls. 12-14, figs. 1-3, 1908; ( ?) 

vol. 38, p. 405, 1911; U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 112, p. 61, pls. H, 10, 1919. 

This species is fully described in the publications cited above. It is exceedingly common 

in and characteristic of the Black Creek· 

formation in North Carolina. In South Caro · 

lina it is found in the extension of these beds. 

It is present in the lower part of the Eutaw 

formation and in later Cretaceous deposits in 

western Georgia and along Chattahoochee 

River. Careful search has failed to discover 

this species in the fossiliferous plant beds of 

western Alabama of Tuscaloosa age, but it 

is present in great abundance at the. very base 
34 . THE FLORA OF THE RIPLE:Y FORMATION 

of the Eutaw deposits in Hale County. Recent collections have shown it to be present i:p. 

·the Magothy formation in Maryland. Singularly enough, it is not found among the abundant display of Ripley plants in western Tennessee, a fact which suggests that it does nut 

range above the Eutaw and that the Cusseta 

sand of Georgia should be correlated with the 

Eutaw rather than with the Ripley formation. 

Occurrence: Eutaw formation (basal beds), 

2 miles south of Havana, Hale County, Ala. ; 

Chimney Bluff, Chattahoochee County, Ga. 

Ripley formation · (Cusseta sand member) , 

Buena Vista, Marion County, Ga. 

Araucaria jeffreyi Berry 

Arauca1·ia )effreyi Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 

35, p. 258, pl. 16, 1908; U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 84, p. 105, 1914. 

These cone scales. were· completely described 

in the papers cited and need not be discussed 

here. 

Occurrence : Eutaw formation,. Chimney 

Bluff, Chattahoochee County, Ga. Ripley formation (Cusseta sand member) , near Byron, 

Houston County, Ga. 

Genus DAMMARA Lamarck 

Dammara acicularis Knowlton 

Plate XXII, figure 8. 

Dammara acicularis Knowlton, . U. S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 257, p. 134, pl. 15, figs. 2-5, 1905 ; Canada 

Geol. Survey Summary Rept. for 1915, p. ·205. 

This species, which was described from 

specimens collected from · the Judith River 

formation of Montana and which has also 

been recorded from the Belly River formation 

of western Canada, is represented by a single 

specimen in the Ripley. It was described by 

J(nowlton as follows: · 

Cone scales broad and very thick at apex, narrowed below into a broad, thick basal portion ; apex 

broadly rounded, provided in the center with a long, 

slender, acute, apparently depressed awn; body of 

scale with several (8 to 10) strong apparently concentric ribs [resin canals], which are pressed close 

together and pass down the narrowed basal portion 

as thin str:ae. 

This species is abundant in the Judith 

River beds, and Knowlton regards the awn 

as a distinctive character. Similar awns are, 

however, occasionally present· on the earlier 

Upper Cretaceous forms described under other 

specific names-for. example, Dammara bo'realis Hem·-so · that specific characters other 

than those of size, shape, and stratigraphic 

position are not available. 

Remains of these organs were described 

and figured by Hitchcock in his account of 

the organic. remains found at Gay Head, 

Marthas Vineyard, as long ago as 1841. He 

did not name them but remarked: " It seems 

to me very obvious that these remains must 

be the seed vessels ·of some coniferous plants." 

In 1882 Heer found similar forms in the material from the west coast of Greenland and 

named and described three very similar forms 

and definitely recognized their relation to 

Dammara. Subsequently they have been recorded from the European Cenomanian by 

Velenovsky, J(rasser, and Beyer, from the 

Raritan formation of New Jersey by Newberry, and . from Long Island and. Staten 

Island by Hollick. They are abundant in the 

middle part of the Raritan at Woodbridge, 

N. J., and occur in the upper part of the 

Raritan (at the same horizon as the beds at 

South Amboy, N. J.) i1nmediately across 

Arthur Kill on Staten Island. 

I have found these scales in the 1\fatawan 

formation of Maryland, in the Black Creek 

formation of North Carolina, and in the Tuscaloosa formation of Alabama. They .have not 

been detected in the Cretaceous deposits of 

· South Carolina or Georgia. · 

Similar remains have been considered by 

Heer, White, J(rasser, and others as representing the fruits of the Eucalyptus, but it seems 

obvious that their relations are definitely with 

the araucarian conifers. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, a quarter of a mile west of 

Buena Vista, Carroll County, Tenn. 

Phylum ANGIOSPERMOPHYTA 

Class MONOCOTYLEDONAE 

• 

Order N AIADALES 

Family NAIADACEAE 

Genus POTAM:OGETON Linne 

Potamogeton ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate III, figure 5; Plate XXIII, figures 1-3 

Leaves small, oblanceoiate, with a pointed 

apex and a narrowed apetiolate base. Texture 
NAIADALES 35 

thin. Length 5.1 centimeters; maximum 

width, above the middle, 1.2 centimeters. Venation aerodrome; veins numerous, thin, parallel, rarely forking, immersed. C~'OSS veinlets 

present. 

This new species, superficially suggestive of 

Podoz.amites ~n· some cycade~n pinnule, is of 

a thin texture and lax· venation entirely conforming to Potam,ogeton. Conclusively. identified Cretaceous remains of this genus are rare, 

the only other Cretaceous species kno\vn to me 

being Potamogeton cretaceus Heer 27 and 

Potanwgeton m/tddendorfensis Berry/8 both 

of which are very similar to the Ripley species. 

Both are sessile or subsessile. The former is 

more symmetrically lanceolate, somewhat 

h:.rger, and relatively broader, with coarser 

and much fewer veins. It comes from the approximately synchronous horizon of the Patoot beds in western Greenland. The latter 

is shotter and relatively wider, with a broadly. 

rounded tip, and comes from· the Middendorf 

arkose member of the Black Creek formation, 

in South Carolina, a slightly older horizon. 

Although the Ripley species is better preserved, the essential differences are slight, and 

if a single botanic species may be regarded 

as varying within the limits of the two it is 

quite possible that Potamogeton middendorfensis. and P otamogeton ripleyensis may represent the variants of a single botanic species. 

"\V'"hen fossil leaves from slightly different 

horizons show recognizable differences and intermGdiate forms are absent from the geologic 

record, good practice requires that they shall 

· be considered distinct species. 

Between 30 and 40 fossil species have been 

referred to this genus, none of which appear 

to be identical with the present form. They 

range in age from the ArCtic Emscherian 

through the Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, and 

Pliocene to the Pleistocene-in fact, several 

still existing species are recorded from the 

Pleistocene, both in this country and abroad. 

The modern species number more than 60 

and occur bot11 in the Tropics and more abundantly in the Temperate Zone. The· species 

generally have a wide range, and many are 

cosmopolitan, a single 'species commonly extending ovep a great· many degrees of latim I:Ieer, Oswald, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 7, p. ~9, pl. 55, 

figs. 23, 24, 1883. 

2s Ben·y, E. W., U. S. Geol. Sut-vey Prof. Paper 84, p. 27, 

pl. 4, fig. 6, 1914. 

tude-for example, Potamogeton perfoliatus 

Linne extends over more than 20 degrees of 

latitude in America, frmn Newfoundland and 

British Columbia to Florida and California, 

and also occurs in Europe and Asia. It is an 

interesting fact that all the wide-ranging 

species extend into both comparatively high 

and low latitudes, whereas species of more 

restricted range, such as Potamogeton fioridanus Small and Pota1nogeton curtissii Morang, of Florida, are commonly confined to 

warmer regions. This condition may be taken 

to indicate either that species confined ·to low 

latitudes in the existing flora, . or their immediate ancestors in more ancient floras, had 

originally a n1uch wider range than now, or 

that the modern wide-ranging species have 

greatly extended their range in recent times. 

I incline to accept the latter supposition, although it is well known that the majority of 

aquatics, both animal and plant, are little influenced even by rather wide differences in 

latitude.· · 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Coopei' pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Genus ALISMAPHYLLUM Berry 

AHsmaphyllum cretaceum Berry, n. sp. 

Plate III, figure 6 

Leaves ovate-auriculate, approaching or incipiently sagittate in generJal outline, with en:. 

tire margins, pointed tip, and slightly decurrent base.. Length about 4.5 centimeters; 

maximum width, in the basal half of the leaf, 

about 2.8 centimeters. Petiole stout, curved. 

about 6 millimeters in length, midrib rathe~ 

broad but flat. The apparent breadth of both 

the petiole and the midrib seems to be due to 

the fl·attening during fossilization of a not 

very resistant structure. The secondary venation is obscure in all the four specimens of 

this species in the collection; the most that 

can be made ou.t are one or two veins diverging from the midrib at an acute angle at or 

near its base and pursuing an upward and apparently aerodrome course parallel with the 

leaf margins. 

In so far as its characters 'are discernible 

this species should be referred to the family 

Alismaceae. Rather than give it· a too d~­

cisive generic position I have referred it to the 

genus Alisrnaphyllum, which was proposed by 
36 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

me 29 for leaves from the latest Lower Creta- This characteristic little leaf, unfortunately 

ceous (Patapsco formation) of Virginia. Ge- known only from the single specimen figured, 

neric names for fossil forms supposed to be- is an indubitable member of the Dioscoreaceae 

long to this family are plentiful; thus· A lis- and is seemingly one of the most 1nodern ele-

'lnacites Saporta 30 contains a doubtful Lower ments in the Ripley flora, but this is due, I 

Cretaceous form from Portugal, a second from ! believe, to the scarcity of this family in the 

the Dakota sandstone, which is totally differ- fossil record throughout the Tertiary rather 

ent from this Ripley species, and two or three than to its late evolution, as the present species 

Oligocene and ~1iocene species of Europe. tends clearly to indicate. 

Alismaphyllites was proposed by l{nowlton 31 Fossil forms referable to the family Diosin 1918 for a form from the lower Eocene coreaceae are almost unknown. Lesquereux, 

(R'aton formation) of southeastern Colorado. i.t is true, described Dioscorea? cretacea,32 

The genus Alisma has had referred to it a fron1 the Dakota sandstone of l{ansas, but 

doubtful forin from the Upper Cretaceous this forin is entirely valueless as evidence for 

(Atane beds) of western Greenland and sev- th~ presence of the famil}7 in the Upper~ 

eral Tertiary species, as well as still existing Cretaceous. The present species, however, 

forms occurring in the Pleistocene. furnishes conclusive proof of the presence of 

The family contains about 75 existing spe- this family toward the end of Cretaceous 

cies segregated into about a dozen genera, all time. It is very similar to existing species 

of which <tre 'small aquatic or marsh plants of the genus Rajania Linne and also to sevwidely distributed and found on all the con- eral of the existing species of Dioscorea Linne. 

tinents. Their latitudinal range· is great and It is less like Srnilax, the· only other monoseems to depend less upon climatic than on coty ledonous type with which comparisons 

Pdaphic factors. were instituted. Rajania has several existOccurrence: ~1cN airy sand member of Rip- ing species of the Antillean region. Diosco1·e~z 

ley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, is a large modern. genus with more than 200 

Carroll County, Tenn. species in the warmer parts of both hemiOrder LILIALES 

Family DIOSCOREACEAE 

Genus DIOSCORITES Saporta 

[Annales sci. nat., Bot., vol. 17, p. 196, 1862. Type 

DioscorUes 1·estwgens Saporta from the Oligocene of southeastern France. J 

Dioscorites cretaceus Berry, n. sp. 

Plate III, figure 7 

Leaves small, ovate, ·widest in the basal half 

of the leaf. Apex narrowly rounded. Base 

broadly rounded. Margins entire, very 

slightly undulate. Substance thin but firm. 

~1idrib slightly stouter than the latei·al primaries, of which there are three on each side, 

rather evenly spaced and. aerodrome. They 

are connected by oblique nervilles, ascending 

from within outward and rarely forking. 

::9 Berry, m. W., Maryland Geol. Survey, Lower Cretaceous, 

p. 452, 1911. 80 Saporta, Gaston de, AnnaJes sci. nat., Bot., 4th ger., vol. 

17, p. 228, 1862 .. 31 Knowlton, F. H.,. U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 101, 

p. 286, 1918. 

spheres, smne of which extend long distances 

into the Temperate zones. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Genus DORYANTHITES Berry 

Doryanthites cretacea Berry 

Doryctnthites cretacea Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., 

vol. 38, p. 406, 1911 ; U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 112, p. 70, pl. 13, fig. 1, 1919. 

Leaves as preserved linear, presumably 

lanceolate above and sheathing below, 4 .. 5 to 

.6 centimeters in width and preserved without 

·any diminution in width for a length of 50 

centimeters. Texture very coriaceous. Margins ·entire. Veins sin1ple and parallel, immersed, considerably less than 1 1nillimeter 

apart. Leaves alike on both surfaces. In the 

hollows between the veins occ.ur rows of small 

sto·mata with the guard cells all oriented in a 

direction parallel with the veins and equally 

numerous on both sur•faces of the leaf. Leaf 

surface under the microscope ap]_1earing finely 

striated parallel with the veins. 

38 LeS()uereux, Leo·, Cretaceom: flora, p. 56, pl. 28, fig. 10, 

1874. 
ARECALES 37 

Occurrence: Eutaw formation (basal part), 

2 miles south of I-Iavana, 1-Iale County, Ala. 

Coffee sand men1ber of Eutaw formation, 1 

mile north of Beacon, Decatur County, Tenn. 

Ripley formation (Cusseta sand member). 

Buena Vista, Marion County, Ga. 

Order ARECALES 

Family ARECACEAE 

Genus GEONOlVIITES Visiani 

Geonomites schimperi Lesquereux 

Plate II 

ess of eliminating other previously described 

species of Geonom~tes which show the distinguishing characters that appear 'to be specific. 

As preserved in the Ripley clays the remains 

indicate leaves of large size. The accompanying illustration was redrawn from· a sketch 

made from a specimen in place by E. S. Perry 

in October, 1919 1 combined with the many 

fragments collected by Dr. 'Vade. This specimen had a length of 60 centime~ers and a width 

of 45 centimeters and represented a leaf at 

least 100 centimeters in length, if not much 

longer, and over 50 centimeters in width. The 

rays vary greatly in width and are generally 

united, becoming free marginally and toward 

Geonom'ites schi·ni<1JePi Lesquereux, Tertiary flora, p. the tip of the leaf. 

J 16, pl. 10, fig. 1, 1878. As has been previously pointed out, the 

f 1

·

1 b £renus (}eonomites, which receives its namf' This species was described as o ows y ...., 

Lesquereux: 

Frond large; rays flat, obtusely carinate, hnlfshen.thing or decurrent to a narrow rachis, obscurely 

nervetl; primnry Ye:ns thici.: or inflated; intermediate 

nerves few, three or four. 

from its resemblance to the existing genus 

Geon01na of 'Yilldenow, is more pr.operly considered to represent 'the undifferentiated ancesti'y or the generically indistinguishable fossil 

representatives of the ~ribe Geonomeae. This 

tribe includes -a.t least ten genera, three of 

The specimen represents a portion of an which, all monotypic, are natives of western 

evidently long and large leaf. The rachis is Africa. The remaining genera, containing 98 

narrow, not more tha.n 4 millimeters thick at per cent of the known species, are widely disthe lowest part of the specimen, very slowly tributed in tropical and subtropical America. 

decreasing in si~e, as at. the top of th~ spe~i- ~1ost of these seven genera are small, containmen, 'vhich is 22 centimeters long, It still ing from one to five existing species each. The 

measures :3 millimeters. It appears half round only large genus of the ti~ibe is Geonor:7Ut: 

and striate bitt is distinct only at a few places, · which comprises behveen 80 and 100 existing 

the rays apparently covering it by their de- species that extend f,rom the Antilles and 

current or half-sheathing base. The rays are southern J\1exico through Central America, 

scarcely nar.rowed at the base, enlarging a along the eastern base of the Andes to Bolivia, 

little above it, and connected by their borders, and along the east coast of South America to 

thence decreasing upward, soon disjointed: Rio de Janeiro. Their center of distribution . 

and thus palmato-pinnate; they average in at the present time is in the basin of the Amawidth 2.5 centimeters a little above the rachis. zan. They are prevailingly small stemless or 

'I'he rays are marked in the middle by a deep short-stemmed palms and are undoubtedly of 

midrib and are thus subcarinate; they show on American origin. The fossil representatives 

both sides of it ten to fourteen inflated pri- of the Geonomeae comprise seve.ral Eocene :and 

mary ·veins, with few intermediate veinlets, Oligocene forms of both North America and 

only two to four discernible, and even these Europe that have been referred to the genus 

rarely, after abrasion of the epidermis. The 11/ anicaria of Gaertner, three forms referred to 

substance of the fronds is thin, membranace- Geon01na, and six forms referred to Geonoous, of a dull-red color, a character which may ndtes. 

be casual. The present Ripley fossil represents th'j 

Palm leaves are· notoriously without clearly oldest known OCClirrence not only of the genus 

defined specific features, especially a·s repre- but of the tribe Geonomeae and the only ce~·­

sented by the broken remains characteristic of tain pre-Eocene occ"i..ll'rence. . The type of 

most museum specimens, hence the determina- Geonomites sohimperi came from a somewhat 

tion of thjs speqies rests la.rgely upon the proc- indefinite locality in Yellowstone Park aud 

100913-25-4 

• 
38 THE FLORA OF T'HE RIPLE.Y FORMATION 

has doubtfully been referred to the "LaraInie " of ·that region, which is now assigned to 

Mesa verde. If this age determination is sub 

stantiated the Ripley occurrence is probably 

of about the same age. The species has abo 

been recorded from beds of uncertain age in 

Contra Costa County, Calif., but this record 

may well be doubted, for it is not substantiated by either figures or preserved specifrom the Oligocene of Italy, and a third, like· 

wise referred to Geonorr~Ja, comes fr·om the 

lower Miocene of Switzerland. . 

Although the geologic record is incomplete, 

it would seem to indicate a trop~cal origin for 

the tribe, in later Upper Cretaceous time, a 

spread northward far into western North 

America during the ·early Eocene, and an invasion of southern Europe, possibly extending 

FIGURE 4.-IOOstoratipn of Geon.omites visia.nii Berry, one-eighteenth natural size 

mens. In addition to the present Cretaceous 

species either Geonoma or Geonomites, or 

both, are recorded from the early Eocene of 

Colorado (Raton and Denver formations), 

Wyoming, New Mexico, and Texas. On the 

other· hand, the earliest known Europear1 

form, the type of the genus, comes from thl3 

lower Lutetian of Italy. A _second species, 

referred to Geonoma by its describer, comPS 

to tropical Africa, during the middle Eocene 

or slightly later. An opinion as to whether 

the tribe migrated to the Eastern Hemisphere 

across the Tropics or in higher latitudes is 

not warranted in the present state of our 

knowledge. 

Geonomites has not yet been found in th P 

extensive Eocene floras fro~ the shores· of the 

Mississippi embayment which I have de-

• 
JUGLANDALES 39 

·scribed, ·but in view of its presence in that 

region toward the end o:f Upper Cretaceous 

time it should eventually be found in the early 

Eocene of that region. 

The accompanying attempt. at a restoration of the basal Eocene Geonomites visianii · 

Berry ,

33 o:f western Texas (fig. 4), not only 

·"'ill answer for GeonoTnites schimperi, which 

differs in general aspect merely by the splitting a part of the rays distad, but it also serves 

to indicate the general habit o:f the numerous 

existing species of Geonoma. Somewhat questionable fragments of Geonomites schimperi 

occur in the shell marl at Coon Creek. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County ; 

2lf2 miles south o:f Miftlin, ChestBr County, 

Coon Creek, l\1cN airy County, Tenn. 

Genus SABALITES Saporta 

Sabalite~ sp. Berry 

Sabalites sp. Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

112, p. 72, pl. 11, fig. 1, 1919. 

Fragments of leaves o:f a large :fan palm 

are present in the basal Ripley formation of 

Be~ ton and MeN airy counties, Tenn. They 

indicate large flabella.te leaves, with numerous 

rays 1.5 to 2 centimeters broad having an illdefined midrib and close-set parallel lateral 

veins. The texture is coriaceous. 

The material is very :fr~gmentary, one of 

the best specimens being that figured, which is 

altogether insufficient for specific diagnosis. 

It is in my judgment distinct :from the socalled S abalites gray anus Lesquereux, o:f the 

Montana group o:f the '"Test, frmn Sabalites 

magothiensis Berry of the Magothy formation of the northern Atlantic coast, or from 

Sabalites ca'rolinensis Be:rry of the Middendorf arkose member of the Black Creek formation of South Carolina. 

Occurrence: Ripley formation (MeN airy 

sand member), half a mile from Camden, Benton County; 2lj2 miles southwest of Selmer,· 

MeN airy County, Tenn. 

sa Berry, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 125, p. 5, 

pl. 2, 19HI. 

Class DICOTYLEDONAE 

Series CHORIPETALAE 

Order JUGLANDALES 

Family JUGLANDACEAE 

Genus JUGLANS Linne 

Juglans similis Knowlton 

Ju,glans similis Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 101, p. 255, pl. 36, fig. 2, 1917. 

This species, which is represented by several 

specimens in the Ripley · fonnation, is de·-

scribed as follows by Knowlton: 

I.;eafiets membranaceous in texture, ovate-lanceolate 

in outline, abruptly w~dge-shaped at base, prolonged above into an acuminate apex ; margin entire; 

midrib thin, straight; secondaries ten or twelve pairs, 

thin, alternate, slightly curved upward, camptodrome, 

and curving just within the border to join the one 

next above; finer nervation obsolete. 

This fine little species is well represente9- by the 

example figurep. This is narrowly ovate-lanceolate 

in shape, being about 7.5 centimeters in length and 

3.25 centimeters in width in the middle. The nerva- . 

tion is well shown in the figure. 

This species is of the type of certain of the leaflets 

often referred t<Y Juglans ?''ttgosa Lesquereux but 

differs from it in having a more narrowly lanceolate 

shape, larger acuminate apex, and thinner nervation 

at a slightly more ·acute angle of divergence. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member o:f Rip 

ley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Juglans tennesseensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate III, figure 8 

Leaflets broadly ovate, widest below the 

middle, rounding upward to a pointed tip and 

downward to a rounded base. Margins entire, 

slightly flexuous. Texture thin but subcoriaceous. Length about 11 centimeters; maximum width 4 to 5 centimeters. No petiolule 

preserved. Midrib stout, very prominent on 

the lower surface of the leaflets. Secondaries 

stout and prominent on the lower surface; 

about ten pairs diverge from the midrib at 

varying angles and somewhat irregula,r intervals; occasionally an odd one is forked near 
40 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

the base; all are camptodrome close to the 

n1argins. Tertiaries well mar ked. 

This species, which has something of the 

form of Juglans arctica Heer, is relatively 

broader, inore nearly equilateral, and with a 

coarser venation. It is decisively differentiated 

from the narrow Juglans wadii Berry, with 

which it is associated, and is also less common. 

It might be considered to represent the terminal leaflets of the species of~ which Juglans 

'wadii represents the lateral leaflets, but this 

does not seem probable because of the different 

facies of the two. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Juglans wadii Berry, n. sp. 

Plate IV, figures 1-3 

'Le~flets of variable size, somewhat inequilateral, petiolulate, lanceolate, with bases and 

tips similarly acuminate. Margins entire. 

Texture subcoriaceous. Petiolule stout, vari-

. able in length, in one of the larger leaflets 

1.5 centimeters long. Midrib very stout, prominent on both surfaces but more so on the lower 

mrface. Secondaries stout, numerous, regularly spaced, ca1nptodrome. Areolation finely 

reticulate, mostly obsolete. Length from 7 to 

12 centimeters; maximum width, in the middle. 

part of the leaf, from 2.3 to 2.6 centimeters. 

Thus the larger leaflets are relatively narrower and more elongated than the smaller 

leaflets. 

This species, which is fairly common in the 

Ripley, is not especially close to previously described forms, of which several are known 

fron1. the Upper Cretaceous. The smaller 

leaves are rather suggestive of lower Eocen~ 

forms. referred to the allied genus Engelhardtia, but in the absence of the characteristic winged fruits of that genus such a determination can not be substantiated, nor is th3 

species certainly a Juglans, although it appears to be a member of the Juglandaceae. 

The absence of corroborative evidence in the 

form of fruits of the Cretaceous leaves referred to this family renders their generic 

position uncertain, and it is quite possible that 

these forms represent a more primitive stock 

from which the early Eocene winged fruit 

and nut bearing trees representing different 

lines of descent were evolved. 

The species is named for the collector, Dr. 

Bruce Wade. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Order MYRICALES 

Family MYRICACEAE 

Genus MYRICA Linne 

Myrica wadii Berry, n. sp. 

Plate IV, figures 4, 5 

Leaves of variable size and marginal characters, elongate linear-lanceolate, with a narrowly cuneate base and an extremely attenuated tip. Typical forms average about 17 centimeters in length by 1.2 centimeters in maKimum width, which is below the middle. Some 

forms are relatively shorter and broader, with 

a wider cuneate base. One such has a length 

of 10 centimeters and a maximum width of 1.5 

centimeters. Texture coriaceous. ~1argins entire for a short distance proximad, above 

which they show remotely and somewhat irregularly spareed prominent serrate teeth separated by wide, flatly rounded inequilateral 

sinuses. The teeth become more ren1ote and 

less prominent distad, arid the narrow tip may 

have entire margins for a greater or less distan~e. Petiole short and stout, especially proxi-

. mad, about 1 centimeter in length. Midrib 

stout and prominent on the lowe'!' surfa•ce of 

the leaf, usually curved. Secondaries medium 

stout, prevailingly straight and craspedodrome, 

eli verging from the midrib at ,open angles in 

the proxin1al part of the leaf and at progressively more acute angles in passing toward 

the tip. In the intervals between these cra8-

pedodrome secondaries are similar subparallel 

branches from the midrib, whose deflected 

marginal portions arch close to the margins, 

forming a sort of marginal hem. The tertiaries are percurrent. 

The present species, which is named in honor 

of the collector, Dr. Bruce Wade, is not especially close to any modern species of jJf yrica 

and is clearly distinct from previously described -fossil species. It does not merit a comparison with any of these except perhaps the 

associated jJfyrica ripleyensis Berry, which is 

shorter and broader and has more numerous 

Oomptonia-like teeth, which become more nun1erous instead of fewpr toward the tip of the 
MYRJCALES 41 

leaf. Forms of similar age referred to Ll! yrica 

tor1•eyi Lesquereux are readily distinguishable.· 

These remains are clearly those of a simple 

leaf and do not represent leaflets. of a compound leaf like Dewalq~tea, the leaflets of 

some species of which the)r greatly resemble--

for example, those from the lower Senonian 

of Germany figui·ed by I-Iosius and Von der 

J\1arck. 34 I was at first disposed to refer this 

Ripley form to the proteaceous genus Banksia. 

and to regard it as ancestral to Banksia saffoTdi (Lesquereux) Bcrry,85 of the Wilcox 

Eocene. It differs from that species, however, 

in characters such as areolation and apical attenuation, in which respect it is more like 

~~ y1'ica.. It is still possible that the two should 

be affiliated, and in that event I would be 

compelled to regard the later form as a· Ll!yricct 

rather than a Banlcsia. The Tertiary records 

of B anksia and other genera of the Proteacea~ 

have been hotly disputed by some botanists, 

and it is true that in B anlcsia the modern 

leaves are abruptly pointed~ At the same time 

some. of the Tertiary forms referred to the 

Proteaceae have been conclusively shown to be 

authentic and are corroborated by fruiting 

specimens. This being true, there is no inherent reason for drawing the line at any of the 

genera except perhaps those that can be defi-· 

nitely shown to be late Tertiary evolutions con-· 

fined to the Australian region. The problem, 

then, of differentiating 11/yrica and Oomptonia from B anlcsia and DTyandra becomes 

extremely difficult if not altogether impossible. 

There is certainly an astonishing variety of 

Llly1ica-like leaves in the Ripley flora, and tlB 

variations shown are of a character and degree 

that preclude considering the bulk of them as 

variants of a single botanic species. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, I-Ienry County, 

Tenn .. 

Myrica wadH minor Berry, n. var. 

Plate IV, figures 6-8 

Leaves slender, ljnear-lanceol'ate, somewhat 

smaller and relatively shorter than JJ!yricr:t 

1.oadii and also somewhat more coriaceous. Tip 

attenuated. Base narrowly cuneate. Length 

n bout 13 centimeters; maximum width about 1 

81 Palaeontographica, Band 2G, p. 48, pl. 32, figs. 111-113: 

pl. 33, fig. 109 ; pl. 34, fig. 110, 1880. . 35 Berry,. E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, p. 208, 

pl. 30, figs. 5, 6, 1916. 

centimeter. M'ttrgins entire. proximad, above 

which they are beset with small remote serrate 

teeth, directed upward and separated by 

scarcely marked flat sinuses. Petiole missing. 

:Midrib stout, prominent on the under side of 

the leaf. Secondaries thin, largely immersed 

in the leaf substance, diverging from the midrib at rather wide angles, curved and regularly camptodrome some dist'ance inside the 

margin, sending short tertiary branches to the 

marginal teeth. In this respect the variety 

shows a constant difference from 1l! yrica wadii, 

as it does also in the very much reduced and 

more closely spaced marginal teeth. In some 

small forms of the variety the teeth are rel'atively twice as numerous as in the larger forms. 

Very many species of Myrica leaves range 

from entire to toothed forms, with the consequent change from camptodrome to craspedo-· 

clrome. venation, and it would require merely 

the straightening out of the secondaries with 

the enlargement of the teeth and the reduction 

of the old camptodrome tips of. the secondaries 

to derive 31 yrica wadii from such a form as 

the variety 1ninor. It is less abundant than 

the type. 

Occurrence:· MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Myrica ripleyensis Berry 

Myrica 1·ipleyensis Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 

43, p. 288, 1916~ U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

112, p. 7 4, pl. 11, fig. 2, 1919. 

Leaves of medium size, linear-lauceolate, 

with a gradually narrowed and acuminate tip 

and a cuneate base. Length about 13 centimeters; maxjmum wid'th, in the middle part 

of the leaf, about 1.75 centimeters. ~1argins 

conspicuously serrate-toothed, the teeth somewhat irregular in size and disposition; distad ' 

they are reduced and close-set. They increase 

in siz~ proximad until in the median and basal 

part of the leaf they are large and triangular, 

the intervening sharp sinuses reaching nearly 

~o the midrib and closely simulating those of 

our recent Oomptonia in character. Texture 

coriaceous. Petiole not preserved, presumably 

short and stout. Midrib stout, flexuous. Sec-

. ondaries numerous, diverging from the Jniclrib at wide angles (about 70°), every third or 

fourth ·one straighter than the rest. and running to a marginal tooth, the intervening m.1es 

somewhat more curved and camptodrome. 
42 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

This species is exceedingly well marked and 

is entirely distinct from previously described 

forms. It resembles closely some of.the leaves 

of our existing Oarmptonia pe1·egrina (Linne) 

Coulter. · It is also much like some of the 

European Tertiary forms, about which so 

much controvetsy raged in tim·es past as to 

whether they were myricaceous or proteaceous.36 For example, some· of the forms of 

Oomptonia vindobonensis (Ettings):lausen) 

Berry are similar to the present species. A 

somewhat similar form from the Bohemian 

Cretaceous is described by V elenovsky 37 as· 

Dryandra cretacea, and another from the Cretaceous of Transylvania by Unger 38 as Oomptonites antiqrulus. These are both generically 

distinct from the present species, as shown by 

their characteristic habit. 111 yrica ripleyensis 

is not especially close to any of the other Ripley species of Myrica, Jrf. wadii being more 

elongated and slenderer, with conspicuously 

different marginal characters. 

Occurrence: Ripley for1nation (MeN airy 

sand member), Camden-Paris road, 13 miles 

north west of Camden, Henry County, Tenn. ; 

2Jj2 miles southwest of Selmer, McNairy 

County, Tenn. 

Myrica cooperensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate VI, figure 1 

0 

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, of medium size, 

with an acuminate apex and a narrowly cuneate base, the 1nargins irregularly toothed or 

lobed and the texture coriaceous. Length, 

about 9 centimeters; 1naximum width, at a 

point where the marginal teeth may become 

lobate, about 2 centimeters. The characteristic 

features of these species is furnished by the 

peculiar and v.a.riable character of the margins, 

which range from remote. outward-directed 

teeth separated by nearly equilateral rounded 

sinuses to variants in which one or more of the 

·teeth are directed ·upward or finally produced 

as -~ascending narrow · conical pointed lobes~ 

Thus in the specimen figured, which is a 

ao See BerTy, E. W., Living and fossil species of Comptonia: Am. Naturalist, vol. 40, pp. 485-520, pis. 1-4, 1906. 

s1 Velenovsky, Josef, Die Flora der bohmischen Kreideformation, pt. 2, p. 1,. pl. 1, figs. 1-5, 1883. 

as Unger, Franz, Ueber einige fossile Pflanzenreste nus Siebenbtlrgen und Ungaro : K. Akad. Wiss. Wien Sitzungsber., 

Band '51, pt: 1, p. 2, pl. l, fig. ·1, 1865. 

synthesis of many fragments, the distal teeth 

on each side are aqui~ine conical lobes, on the 

left side two outward -directed teeth are separated by wide openly rounded sinuses, and the 

proximal and sligh~ly more produced tooth is 

produced as an ascending conical lobe; on the 

right side the penultimate tooth is but slightly 

developed and directed outward, the next below is a conical ascending lobe, below which 

is a normal outward-directed tooth, followed 

by a proximal and slightly more produced 

tooth. 'l'he petiole is stout and about 5 millimeters in length; the midrib is stout, slightly 

flexuous, and prominent on the lower surface 

of the leaf. The secondaries are thin; usually 

a craspedodrome secondary proceeds from the 

midrib at varying angles to the tips of the teeth 

or lobes; the rmnainder, which are numerous, 

are camptodrome, or unite at large angles with 

an infra1narginal vein or hem, which is· apparently the modification of a more regular 

camptodrome vena.tion due to the formation 

of the marginal sinuses. The ultimate areola- · 

tion can not be made out. 

The species is not uncommon but fragmentary, and small fragments suggest small lobate lea.ves of Quercus, although the venation 

is not that of Quercus but suggestive of Myrica 

:or· some member of the Proteaceae-for examp-le, Lomatia. General considerations, it 

seems to me, rule out the latter possibility, so 

that I am constrained to adopt 11! yrica, in spite 

of the abundance and diversity of Myrica 

types that this flora is thus made to exhibit.. 

There is little likelihood of confusing the present unique type either with its associates in the 

Ripley flora or with other American forms. 

On the other hand, in both size and peculiar 

marginai lobing, it is somewhat like a form 

from the Senonian of Germany described by 

Hosius and Von der Marck39 as Qiwrcus hiera~ 

ciifolia. As the name used by Hosius and Von 

der Marek is one in. the literature commonly 

attributed to Debey, it is probable that somewhat similar forms occur in the Cretaceous of 

Aix -la -Cha pelle. 

The value of careful descriptions and precise 

figuring of fossil leaves is well illustrated by 

the unsatisfactory objects described by Hosius 

and Von der Marek. I should .like to call the 

39 Palaeontograpbica, Band 26, p. 42,. pl. 31, figs. 85-88, 

. L880 
MYRICALES 43 

Ripley species 111 yrica hieraciifolia but am prevented by the possibility that the German form 

may have to be ·transferred to 111 yrica. The desirability of more precise comparison· has a 

bearing upon correlation. Mqreover, there are 

a much larger number of botanists interested 

in the origin an¢!. distribution of the oaks. 

Formerly almost any lobate leaf was referred 

to Quercus, often upon scanty evidence. One 

would not find fault with the older workers if 

they ·had left figures accurate enough for a 

judgment. If, !as seems probable, Quercus and 

Castanea are derived fr01n Dryophyllum, the· 

lobate forms older than DT1.jophyllun1 are open 

to suspicion, and with scientific descriptions 

and figures it would be possible to get some 

idea of the lines of evolution. 

Occurrence: l\tlcNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near I-Iollow Rock: 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Myri~a johnstrupi (He~r) Berry 

Querc~ts johnstntp·i Heer, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 

7, p. 24, pl. 56, figs. 7-12a, 1883 [not Newberry, 

1896]. 

Knowlton, in Stanton and Martin, Geol. Soc. 

America Bull., vol. 16, p. 408, 1905. 

Leaves lanceolate to ovate, with a bluntly 

pointed apex and abroadly cuneate and slightly decurrent base. Texture subcoriaceous. 

Length from 3 centimeters to 7 millimeters; 

maximum width, at or· below the middle, from 

1.25 to 2.5 centimeters. Margins with sOinew hat variously developed coarsely dentate 

teeth, which are generally 1l.1ore prominent in 

the larger leaves. Petiole stout, of undetermined length. Midrib stout, prominent on the 

under sur.face of the leaf: Secondaries thin but 

prominent, six to eight subopposite to alternate 

pairs diverging from the midrib at angles of 

about 45°, pursuing a rather straight subparallel ascending course, and terminating at apices 

of the marginal teeth, hence craspedodrome. 

Tertiaries thin, percurrent, usually obsolete by · 

immersion. 

Tllis species is. abundant in the Patoot beds 

of Greenland and was well illustrated by Heer: 

It has been recorded from the Upper Cretaceous of Chignik Bay, Alaska, but this material has not yet been described or figured. It 

. i:=; sparingly represented by characteristic 

specimens in the Ripley of Tennessee. It was 

recorded by Newberry from the Raritan formation of New Jersey, but this record was 

based on an. erroneous identification. Heer referred the type material to the genus Quercus, 

but it lacks any positive diagnostic features of 

that genus and is on the other hand identical 

in essential characters with numerous species 

of frl y1'ica. The tendency o"f paleobotanists to 

see resemblances to Quercus in fossil leaves 

with a toothed or lobate margin irrespective 

of other and ·more important foliar characters. 

is greatly to be depi·ecated. 

The present species is distinguishable with 

difficulty from the Patoot forms ·named Quercus marioni by Heer,40 which similarly is to 

. be referred to 111 yrica. Both the Patoot flora 

and that of the Ripley furnish a galaxy of 

mostly small, toothed-margin fonns .that are 

very liable to confusion unless their characters 

are carefully analyzed. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand n1ember of 

Ripley formation,. Cooper pit, near Hollow 

Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. 

Myrica minor Berry, n. sp. 

Plate VI, figures 2, 3 

.Leaves small, elliptical, with an acute tip 

and a cuneate or somewhat cordate base. Margins with a few large 0 crenate-serrate teeth. 

Texture subcoriaceous. Length 1.75 to 2 centimeters; maximum width, in the middle pa1t 

of the leaf, 8 to 13 millimeters. Petiole stout, 

curved, 3 to 5 1nillimeters in length. Midrib 

stout, prominent on the under surface of the 

. leaf. Secondaries stout; four or five pairs 

diverge from the midrib" at acute angles and 

ascend in rather straight courses to the tips of 

the marginal· ·teeth ( craspedodrome) . Tertiaries obsolete. . 

This little species is somewhat variable, the 

extremes being figured. In the broader forms 

, the base becomes cordate and the basal secondaries diverge: at wider angles. Superficially these tiny leaves suggest the juvenile 

leaves of the associated 11/yrica o1·nata Berry, 

b~t their long petioles negative this sugges-

. tion. Although -represented by only three 

specimens, the species is present at the two 

principal outcrops where Ripley plants have 

been collected in Tennessee. · 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member. of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

' 0 Heer, Of>wald, Flora fossilis arctlca, vol. 7, p. 23, pl. 56, 

figs. 1-6. 1883. 
44 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

and Cooper pit, near Hollow .Rock, Carroll 

Comity, Tenn. 

Myrica ornata Berry, n. sp. 

Plate VI, figures 4, 5 

Ovate-lanceolate leaves of medium size and 

striking appearance, varying somew h'at in size 

and proportions, generally widest below the 

middle, tapering upward to the more or less 

extended acuminate tip and dow:invard to the 

broadly or narrowly cuneate base. Margins 

entire for the basal one-fourth their length, 

their upper three-fourths divided. into large 

aquiline serrJate cuspidate teeth, which decrease 

regularly in size above the middle. Teeth 

from seven to ten on each side, varying from 

a crenate.-serrate form to the elegant type reproduced photographically, in which the 

prmninent teeth are slightly awned. Lea.f 

substance thick and polished, subcoriaceous. 

Length from 7 to 9 centimeters; maximum 

width from 1.9 to 3.1 centime(ers. Petiole 

short and stout, curved, about 2 millimeters in 

length. Midrib stout, prominent on the under 

side of the leaf; seven to ten subopposite p'airs 

diverge from the midrib at acute angles of 

about 35°, pursue a but slightly curved ascending course, and terminate in the marginal teeth 

( craspedodrome). ·The tertiaries are immersed in the leaf substance. They are thin and 

form arches along the margins and are percur-

. rent between the secondaries. The areolation 

is fine and indistinctly seen and is not that of 

Querc'us, a genus which might possibly be suggested by the general form of the leaf. 

This handsome species is a characteristic 

element in the Ripley flora and is not uncommon at the Oarroll ·County locality. It is 

readily distinguished from the numerous associated species of llf yrica. Among previously 

described. fossil forms it is somewhat suggestive of. Myrica parrvula Heer, of the Raritan 

formation of New Jersey and the Patoot beds 

of Greenland, which l redescribed as Oomptonia 1nicrophylla (Heer) Berry. 41 That 

form is sm'aller, however, with fewer and ob:-

tuse teeth, and lacks the' ~cuminate tip. lilyrica ornata also resembles the juvenile leaves 

of the exist~ng Oomptonia peregrina (Linne) 

41 Berry, E.. W., Am. Naturalist, vol. 40,. p. 508, pl. 4, figs. 

1, 3, 4, 1906. 

Coulter, but the latter are shortly pointed or 

rounded distad, with the 1nargins lobed rather 

than toothed. Somewhat similar Terti'ary 

forms in both Europe and North An1erica are 

0 omptonia vindob onensis ( Ettingsha usen) 

Berry and Omnptonia insignis (Lesquereux) 

Berry. Attention should also be called to the 

leaves from the Patoot beds of Greenland 

which Heer 42 described as Quercus johnstrupi 

and which demonstrate the presence in Greenland of a very similar and congeneric type also 

present in the Ripley flora and referred to lilyrica by n1e in the present work. 

Occurrence: JVIcNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Myrka. torreyi Lesquereux 

·plate VI, figures 6, 7 

Myrica torreyi Lesquereu~, U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr. Anp. Rept. for 1872, p. 392, 1873 ; 

U. S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., vol. 7 (Tertiary 

flora) , p." 129, pl. 16, figs. 3-10, 1878. 

Ward, U. S. Geol. Survey Sixth Ann. Rept., p. 551, 

pl. 40, fig. 4, 1886; U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 37, 

p. 32, pl. 14, fig. 5, 1887. 

Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 163, p. 34, pl. 

6, figs. 1-3, 1900; U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 98, p. 90, pl. 17, fig. 7 ; p. 336, pl. 86, fig. 1, 

1916; Prof. Paper 101, p. 256, pl. 37, figs. 2-4, 

1918. 

Cockerell, Colorado Univ. Studies, vol. 7, p. 150. 

1910 . 

The material from Tennessee is narrower 

:1nd more prominently toothed than the type 

material but appears identical with the western forms referred to this species by !(now lton. 

. The type was collected near the CretaceousEocene boundary at Black Buttes, vVyo., and 

the species has been recorded from a considerable number of localities and horizons in the 

Cretaceous' of ""\Vyoming, Colorado, and New 

Mexico but has not hitherto been found in the 

Coastal Plain Cretaceous. It is common at 

the Carroll County locality in Tennessee· but 

has not been found in the collections from 

IIenry County. 

Occun~ence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near I-Iollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

42 Heer, Oswald, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 7, p. 24, pl. ;,r,, 

fig>'. 7-J:!, 1t:.s~:. 
• 

MYRICALES 45 

Myrica torreyi obtusata Berry, n. var. 

Plate VI, figure 8 

Leaves relatively small, linear, with a blunt 

t.ip and a m1rrowly ctineate decurrent base. 

~1arg:ins dentate, with an occasional tooth assuming a serrate form. Length about 6.5 

centimeters; maximum width about 5 millimeters. Petiole stout, curved, 7 millimeters 

in length. 1\1idrib stout, prominent, usually 

curved. Secondaries thin but well marked, 

diverging from the midrib at angles· of over 

45°, alternately craspedodrome to the 1narginal 

teeth and abruptly camptodrome, the latter 

forming with the branches from them to the 

craspedodrome veins a pseudomarginal vein. 

Tertiaries thin, forming an open polygonal 

areolation. 

The general form and especially the blunt 

tip show a decided resemblance to the fossil 

leaves commonly referred to the genus 

Banksia, but the venation is not that of 

Banlcsia and is of the type commonly referred 

to ~1yrica and exactly similar to that shown in 

the conte.mporaneous forms.referred to 11/yrica 

to1·reyi. The new variety differs from 111 yrica 

to?'?'eyi in its s1nall size, narrow form, and 

blunt tip. l\1arginal characters are rather variable among the forms that have been referred 

to ill yrica tor1··eyi. Those from the Cretaceous 

of Tennessee 'that are considered to represent 

that species have n1ore prominent and 1nore 

closely spaced teeth than this new variety. 

Occurrence: lHcN airy sand 1nember of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Myrica brittoniana Berry 

Plate VI, figure !.l 

My1··ic(t brUtoniana Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., 

vol. 32, p. 46, 1905; New Jersey Geol. Survey 

Ann. Hept. for 1905, p. 138, 1906; U. S. Geol. 

Survey Prof. Paper 84, p. 31, pl. 7, figs. 17, 

18, 1914. 

Jlfyriun hec1·ii Berry, Am. Naturalist, vol. 37, p. 68:2, 

figs. 7, 8, 1903 [homonym, Boulay, 1887]. 

Leaves elongate-lanceQlate, 13 to 14 cent~­

meters long by 2.7 c~ntimeters in greatest 

width, which is in the middle part of the leaf. 

Apex elongated, narrowed, bluntly pointed. 

Base attenuated. Margin e~1tire, or entire below and undulate or distantly and obtusely 

toothed above. Texture coriaceous. Petiole 

and midrib fairly stout and prominent on the 

underside of the leaf. Secondaries thin, im-

. mersed, often obsolete, branching from the 

midrib at rather h~rge angles, comparatively 

straight, abruptly camptodrome, forming a 

pseudo:marginal vein,' wh!ch is especially 

prominent in the Ripley material and which 

gives off a short and inconspicuouos brnnch to 

the marginal teeth. 

This striking species was described by me 

from specimens found in the Magothy formation of New Jersey and was subsequently recorded from the Black Creek formation in 

South Carolina. At both of these localities 

the matrix is rather coarse, and the detailed 

characteristics of .the species come out much 

more clearly in the present specimens, pres~rved in the fine plastic Ripley clay. The 

species is well marln~d and abundant in the 

Hipley deposits of Henry County but has. not 

yet been found elsewhere in Tennessee or in 

the western Cretaceous. 

Occurrence : ~1cN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County. 

Tenn. 

Myrica brittoniana obtusata Berry, n. var. 

Plate V, figures 1, 2 

This variety differs from the type in its 

relatively shorter and broader form and in its 

conspicuously rounded tip. Length from 10 

to 12 centimeters; maximum width from 2 to 

2.5 centimeters. The midrib "is prominent 

below and channeled on the upper surface of 

the leaf. The secondaries are more numerous, 

more prominent, and straighter, and the mar~ 

ginal vein is more conspicuous. 

This variety is n~t abundant and is associated with the normal form of 11/ yrica b?·ittoniana and 1nay therefore simply represent 

abnormal leaves of that species. The more 

obtuse tip that has suggested the name for 

this variety is a feature of slirrht weio-ht but . ~ b ' 

the channeled 1nidrib and more prominent 

and slightly different secondary venation seem 

to be characters of diagnostic value. 

Occurrence: :MeN airy sand l!l~mber of Rip-

~~y formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

I enn. 
0 

46 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

Order SALICALES 

Family SALICACEAE 

Genus SALIX Linne 

Salix gardneri Knowlton? 

Plate V, figure 3 

Salim gardneri Knowlton,. U. s: Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 101~ p. 257, pl. 37, fig. 1, 1919. 

The present species is described as follows 

by l{nowlton: 

Leaves linear-lanceolate, broadest about the middle, 

thence tapering gradually to the long wedge-shaped 

lower portion and in about equal degree to the acuminate apex; margin perfectly entire; midrib fairly 

strong; secondaries numerous, about twelve pairs, 

alternate, at an angle of about 45°, very much curvecl 

upw·ard, each joining the one next above, the lower 

ones by a series of several loops, the upper ones making themselves · a series of · conspicuous loops ; 

nervilles prominent, approximately at right angles to 

the midrib. 

'.rhis .handsome little species is represented by the 

nearly perfect example figured as well as several 

more or less fragmentary specimens. The. figured 

specimen is 7 centimeters long and 1 centimeter wide: 

the others are. slightly smaller. 

This species is undoubtedly most· closely related to 

Salim plicata Knowlton, of the Vermejo formatioit, 

with which it agrees closely in size and shape but 

from which it differs in the disposition of the less 

numerous secondaries; the finer nervation is also a 

more conspicuous feature in the present species. 

The Ripley material is only tentatively 

identified with this Vermejo species, which is 

only doubtfully. related to tlw genus Salix. 

The Ripley material shows a long petiole and 

is much like ~ variety of lanceolate members 

of the Ripley flora but differs from all of these 

in venation. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Rip-· 

ley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Order FA GALES 

Family FAGACEAE 

Genus DRYOPHYLLUM Debey 

Dryophyllum gracile Debey 

Dryophyllu.m gracile Debey, Feuilles querciformes 

d'Aix-la-Cllapelle, p. 10, figs. 10, 11, 1881. 

Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 43, p. 290, pl. 

16, fig. 6, 1916; U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

112, p. 75, pl. 32, fig. 2, 1919. 

Lanceolate to o.blong-lanceolate, witli a cuneate base and a gradually narrowed tip. 

Length about.12 centimeters; maximum width, 

about midway between the apex and the base, 

from 1.75 to 2.5 centin1eters. Petiole missing. 

Texture subcoriaceous. Margin with regularly 

spaced, fairly prominent, nearly straight serrate teeth. Midrib stout, prominent on the 

lower surface of the leaf. Secondaries thin, 

·regularly spaced, about fifteen craspedodrome 

pairs ·branching from the 1nidrib ,a.t angles of 

45° or more, curving regularly upward, subparallel, terminating in the marginal teeth~ 

Tertiaries thin, partly percurrent and partly 

alternating, joined midway between adjacent 

secondaries by a zigzag vein. 

This well-marked species is represented by 

several specimens from the MeN airy sand 

member of the Ripley formation of Tennessee. 

None of these are complete, each showing about 

two-thirds of a leaf, but this is enoi1gh to 

demonstrate their identity with the European 

type, which came from the Turonian or Emscherian of Aix-la-Chapelle, Rhenish Prussia. 

Additional European localities are Tannenberg, Bohemia, and I\:ieslingswalde, Silesia., all 

at about the same horizon and probably in the 

Santonian substage of the Emscherian. 

Occurrence: Ripley formation (MeN airy 

sand member), big cut on Southern Railway 

near Cypress and 2¥2 miles southwest of Selmer, McNairy County; Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, Carroll County (rare) , Tenn. 

· Dryophyllum protofagus Berry, n. sp. 

Plate V, figures 4, 5 

Leaves rel'atively small, alternate in arrangement, oval, widest in the median region and 

~.bout equally tapering to the acute apex and 

base, the apex slightly more tapering than the 

base. Margins deiltate. Texture subcoriaceous. Petiole short and stout, about 2.5 milli:-

meters in length. Midrib stout a.nd prominent 

on the lower surface of the leaf. Secondaries 

stout, subopposite to alternate, numerous, subparallel, craspedodrome; they diverge from 

the midrib at angles of 45° to 50°, pursue a 

nearly straight ascending course, and terminate in the marginal teeth .. Tertiaries well 

marked, numerous, prevailingly percurrent. 

The n1argins are entire· for a variable distance 

below, and the teeth increase in size somewhat 

toward the tip of the leaf. Length about 3.5 

centimeters; maxiinum width about 1.7 centimeters. 
.1A;~ 

48 .l ,~ •. .c: FLORA OF· THE RIPLBY FORMATION 

margins, along \vhich they arch. Tertiaries 

comprise arches along the margins \Y hich send 

short branches into the teeth and percurrent 

veins between tlie secondaries which are connected transversely in th.e median region. · 

These leaves, which are somewhat suggestive 

of some modern species of the genus Oordia, 

resemble Oeltis in their general form and margina,! teeth, curved petiole and midrib, slightly 

falcate fo~·m, and secondary and tertiary venation. 

The genus Oeltis comprises shrubs and trees 

of the warm temperate ai).d tropical portions 

of the Northern I-Iemisphere, with outlying 

species in the ~1ascarenes, New Caledonia, 

Java, and Polynesia. It is divided into several subgenera, some of which are probably 

of generic rank, such as the score o~ tropical 

American forms of 11/ mnisia Dumortier. The 

Euceltis section of the genus contai:p.s between 

30 and 40 existing species of the warmer parta 

of North A1nerica and Eurasia. A consider.: 

able number of fossil species of Oeltis have 

been described, but the only previously known 

form from the Cretaceous with such an implied relationship is Oeltidophyllu1n p'raeaustrale l{rasser,44 fr01n the Cenomanian of Kunstadt, ~1oravia. This assignment does not appear especially convincing to me, and I would 

be inclined to consider the form a .Zizyphus. 

The oldest certainly determined forms heretofore known con1e from the lower and middle · 

Oligocene of France. The. genus is well represented in the European Miocene, with no less 

than eight species, and is present at Florissant, 

in the Colorado Rockies, as well as in Wyoming. The Pliocene species include representatives in l;>oth Europe and eastern Asia. 

·The existing European Oeltis au.st1·alis Linne. 

is found in the Pleistocene of Hungary, and 

both 0. occidentalis Linne and 0. mississippiensis Bose, as well as an extinct species, occur 

in the Pleistocene of the United States. 

Occurrence : ~1cN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near I-Iollow -Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

44 Krasse1·, Fridolin. Beitriige zm· Kenntniss der fossilen 

Kreicleflorn. von Kunstadt in Mllh1·en, p. 18, pl. 6, figs. 8-14, 

1896. 

Family MORACEAE 

Genus ARTOCARPUS Forster 

Artocarpus cretacea Berry, n. sp. 

Plates VIII, IX 

Leaves large, elliptical or broadly ovate, 

deeply divided into long, narrow pinnate segments. Estimated length 40 centimeters; 

1naximum width about 22 centimeters, in the 

median region. Texture coriaceous. Apex 

acuminate. Base decurrent. This species is 

unfortunately based upon fragments, the largest of which are shown on Plate IX. These 

show, however, the· apex, the base, and a median por'tion of the leaf, and I have had in adclition a sketch of a larger median portion 

made by E. S. Perry from a specimen in place 

in the clay pit. From all this material the restoration shown on Plate IX, greatly reduced 

in size, has been reconstructed. The reader 

should bear in mind that such features ·as the 

actual number of lobes may have been more or 

less or the direction of the lobes below the 

a pi cal portion represented by actual specimens 

may have been more ascending. Simila.rly the 

sinuses may not all have been so deep as in the 

median and basal regions actually represented 

by specimens. Aside from these features the 

restora.tion is absolutely correct. 

The species· may now be described in n1ore 

detail. The leaf is divided into about ten pairs 

·of opposite to alternate linear-lanceol ate acuminate lobes separated by nearly parallel sinuses 

which extend almost to the midrib, the lamina 

in these regions constituting little more than a 

narrow wing. The lobes are somewhat irregu-

_lar in size and spacing, especiaJly in the apical 

and basal portions of the leaf; they expand 

slightly outward, and some of those in the 

median portion of the leaf, which form an angle of ·about 65 ° with the midrib, · develop a 

subordinate rounded. lobule on their distal 

margins about two-thirds of the distance from 

the base to the tip. The basal lobes are more 

ascending, and the apical lobes are especially 

unsymmetrical and falcately ascending. _The 

petiole is very stout, of u:p.known length but 

presumably short, with winged margins 

formed by the decurrent lateral margins of 
URTICALES 47 

This well-marked small leaf conforms in its 

characters to the genus Dryophyllum and also 

shows many characters prenuncial of the· 

genus Fagus of this family, a fact which has 

suggested the specific name. The character 

of the margin and the details of venation are 

well shown in the figured enlargement of a 

portion of the leaf. Among previously described fossil forms the present species shows 

considerable resemblance to a species .from the 

Patoot beds of Greenland which Heer de-

. scribed 43 as Quercus 'lnarioni but which is 

probably a 11/ yrica and not a Quercus. 

The genus Dryophyllu'ln embraces a large 

number of well-characterized forms found 

throughout the late Upper Cretaceous and 

early Eocene of the Northern Hemisphere. It 

has long been considered, and rightly so, the 

ancestral stock of Oaslianea, Oastanopsis, 

Pasania, and Quercus. Its relationship to the 

modern genus Fagus has not been so clear, but 

the present Ripley species shows plainly that 

Fagus was undoubtedly derived from the same 

stock. A great many Cretaceous species of 

Q'!.te'l·cus have been described, largely on insufti-

- cient evidence, and a large . number of the 

earlier fossil oaks of the willow-leafed and 

chestnut-oak types are probably not true oaks. 

The present distribution of the family is a 

subject of exceeding interest. The direct ancestry of the modern forms is still obscure, and 

much more information is needed regarding 

. the Tertiary forms, especially of the ·Asiatic 

· region. The general relationship among the 

different genera. may be expressed· diagrammatically as follows : 

~ Dryophyllum 

1 ~:~- I ~ ---,___ I Pasania A ---------- 1 

1 

· // Castanopsis _>~gus 0 . N othofagus J · 1 astanea ~ 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Genus FAGUS Linne 

Fagus ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate V, figure 6; Plate VII, figure 1 

Leaves of medium size, widest in the middle 

and narrowing about equally to both ends. 

43 Heer, Oswald, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 7, p. 23, pl. 56, 

figs. 1-6, 1ssa. 

Apex acute. Base broadly cuneate. I\1argins 

entire at base, above which remotely and 

coarsely · crenate. Texture subcoriaceous .. 

Length about 8 centimeters; maximum width 

about 3.5 centimeters. Petiole stout, enlarging 

proximad, about 9 millimeters in length. I\1idrib stout, prominent, curved. Secondaries thin, 

subparallel; about eleven. equally spaced pairs 

diverge from the midrib at approximately 

regular intervals at angles of about 50° to 55°, 

pursue a but slightly curved ascending course, 

and terminate in the marginal teeth. Tertiaries obsolete. 

Five Upper Cretaceous species have been referred to the genus Fagus-one from Saxony, 

one from Nortlnvest Territory (Peace River), 

and three frmn the Dakota sandstone. None 

of these are at all similar to the present species, 

nor has the genus been recorded frmn the Upper Cretaceous of Greenland. The exjsting 

beeches fohn a compact group of four species 

of eastern Asia, southeastern North America, 

and Europe. Their segregation indicates a 

fonner rnore extensive distribution, abundantly verified by the numerous species of the 

geologic record. 

Leaves similar to F a,qus 1·ipleyensis have 

been referred to both· Qnercus and Planera but 

are in my judgment representative of a different stock. 

Occurrence: MeN airy ·sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn . 

Order URTICALES 

Family ULMACEAE 

Genus CELTIS Linne 

Celtis cretacea Berry, n. sp. 

Plate VII, figure 2 

Leaves of medium size, ovate, with a gradually narrowed acuminate tip and a broadly 

rounded base. Margins entire in the rounded 

basal region, above whi~h they are regularly 

coarsely serrate. Leaf substance thin. Length 

about . 9 centimeters; maximum width, in the 

basal half of the ~eaf,. about 3 centimeters. 

Petiole stout, curved, ·expanded at base, about 

1.2 centimeters in length. Midrib stout, 

curved, prominent on the lower surface of the 

leaf. Secondaries thin, five ·or six pairs, the 

basal pair opposite and slightly suprabasilar, 

the remainder alternate; they diverge from 

the midrib at rather wide angles and curve 

upward, ascending parallel with the lateral 
~r URTICALES 

~ . 'i!.HT 49 

the basal lobe. The midrib is very stout and 

prominent on the under side of the leaf. The 

secondaries or midveins of the lobes are relatively stout, prominent on the under side; they 

conform to the angle and direction of the 

lobes, terminating at the tips of the lobes. 

The tertiary venation is exceedingly fine and 

largely immersed in the leaf substance. It 

comprises irregplarly spaced tertiaries, of 

which some preserve a camptodrome course 

but more are lost in the prevailingly quadrangular and rather open areolation. 

· The present species is strikingly distinct 

from. previously described species of A ?·toca'rpus in its extremely pinnate lobation, departing in this respect from both the recent 

and the described fossil forms. If it is correctly identified it \Vould se·em tha.t so specialized a form implies the existence of other and 

less modified forms in the same or· antecedent 

Cretaceous deposits. The only other fossil 

forms that it seems at all necessary to discu.ss 

in the present connection a.re Artocarpus dissecta J(nowlton, 45 from the Vermejo formation 

of southeastern Colorado, and Li1iodendron 

S'IW'Wii Lesquereux,40 from the Dakota sand"'· 

stone of l(ansas. Both·· are clearly distin<!t 

from the Ripley form, which they resemble 

in their pinnate lobation, and both are strikingly alike in outline and venation, a feature 

not discussed by J(no,vlton. It would seem 

thn.t the. anomalous form of Li1iodendTon 

sno'Wii absolutely precludes . its reference to 

l>hiodenrl1·on, the most bizarre fossil forms 

of which it does not in the least resemble, 

and that it should be referred to the. Euarto~ 

enrpeae; at least both Liriodendron snottoii 

and Artocarpus dissecta are congeneric, and 

if A1·toca1·p~t8 cretacea is correctly identified 

then the other two should be referred to the 

same or an aljjed genus. Similarly Li1·io~ 

dendron quercifoliuni Newberry 47 is open to 

suspic.ion and the same interpretation. This 

w·ould trnce bnd~ the ancestral breadfruit in 

· North America. both in the East and in the 

5 Kn()wlton, :n·. H., U. S. Geol. ~urvey Prof. Paper 101, p. 

' 267, pl. 42, fig. 6, 1917. 

• 40 Lcsqncreux, Leo, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 17, p. 209, pl. 

29, fig-s, 1., 2. 1892. 

"Newberry, J. S., U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 26, p. 81, pl. 

·.11. figs. 1-6, 1896. 

\Vest to about the same time that it appeared 

in the Cretaeeous record of west Greenland. 

. In the existing flora the two score or more 

known species of A rtocarpus are indigenous to 

the southeastern Asiatic region, although some 

of them are cultivated in all tropical•countries. 

The breadfruit is found throughout Oceanica 

and was present in Hawaii and the ~1arquesas 

when those islands were first visited by Europeans. It was introduced into the vVest Indies 

in 1793. Of the tribe Euartocarpeae, of which 

A.rtocarpus is the largest existing genus, five 

genera are confined to Centra'! and South 

America, one is confined to tropical west 

Africa, two to the southeastern Asiatic region, . 

one to Borneo, and one ranges from Japan to 

Australia. Though the geologic history of 

A. rtocctrp~ts is only imperfectly known, at least 

27 different fossil specie.s have been described. 

The oldest that is certainly identified is a wellmarked form based on characteristic leaves and 

parts of the fruit that show the typicaJ surface 

ftatures. It was fully described by N athorst 48 

and came from the Atane beds (Cenomanian) 

of west Greenland. IIere would belong the Dakota sandstone form called Li1·iodendron snowii 

by Lesquereux, which is found from J(ansas 

to Texas. Slightly younger is a less welldefined form recorded frmn the Emscherian 

of 'V estphalia and the somewhat doubtful genus A.rtoca1·pophyllum of Dawson, from 

the Upper Cretaceous of Vancouver Island. 

Another Cretaceous ·species is recorded from. 

the Laramie formation, and the genus is widely 

distributed in the basal Eocene of North 

America. , It. continu~d in the Gulf region until 

the end of the Oligocene, the latest recorded 

occurrence being in the sands of the Alum 

Bluff formation at Alum Bluff on Apalachicola 

River, western Florida. On the P'acific coast 

it, is found in deposits in California and Oregon \vhich are referred to the Miocene. In .the 

:European area a great variety of forms described by Principi have been found in lower 

Oligocene ( Sannoisian) of Italy (Liguria). 

The genus is also represented in the Tongrian 

of France, the Tortonian of Baden, the Pontian of France and Italy,. and the Pliocene of 

48 Nathorst, A. G., K. Svenska Vet>Akad. Hand I., Band 24, 

No. l, 10 pp., 1 pl.. 1890. 
50 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION. 

Italy. It is present in both the Pliocene and 

Pleistoreene of the island of Java. 

A rtocarpus is said to be represented by petrified wood in the Oligocene of the island of Antigua, and it was evidently a member of the 

A1nerican flora from the Upper Cretaceous 

until late in the Tertiary, although, like the 

genera Oinnaanomrum, N ipa, and Phoenix, it is 

not represented in post-Pleistocene American 

floras. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

and Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, Carroll 

County, Tenn. 

Genus FICUS Linne 

Ficus ripleyana Berry, n. sp. 

Plate VII, figure 6 

Leaves lanceolate, widest in the middle 

region and tapering almost equally upward 

and downward, the 'apex· being slightly more 

extended and acuminate. Base acute, decurrent. Margins entire, somewhat undulate. 

Texture coriaceous. · Length about 15 centimeters; maximum width about 3.75 centimeters. Petiole very stout and round, about 

stouter midrib. Ficus atavina Heer 51 has a 

somewhat similar venation but is a relatively 

much narrower, more elongated form; the 

associated Ficus crassipes Heer and Ficus 

krausiana Heer have a decidedly different 

venation. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of the 

Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow 

Rock, ·Carroll County, Tenn .. 

· Ficus krausiana Beer 

Ficus krausiana Heer, Schweizer. paleont. Gesell. 

Neue Denkschr., vol. 23. p. 15 .. Pl. 5, figs. 3-6, 

1869. 

Fric, Natui·wiss. Landesdurchforschung Bohmen 

Archiv, vol. 4, pp. 18, 94, 1878. 

Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 17, p. 81, 

pl. 1, fig. 5, 1892. . 

Hollick, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 50, p. 58, pl. 9, 

fig. 9; pl. 10, figs. 1-3, 1907. 

Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 84, pp. 38, 

. 110, pl. 11, figs. 4-7 ; pl. 19, fig. 4, 1914; 

Maryland Geol. Survey, Upper Cretaceous, p. 

823, pl. 59, ·fig. 1, 1916. 

Ficus beclcwith'ii Lesquereux, Cretaceous and Tertiary 

floras, p. 46, pl. 16, fig. 5 ; pl. 17, figs. 3, 4, 1883. 

Ficus snspecta Velenovsky, Die Flora der bohmischen 

Kreideformation, pt. 4, p. 10, pl. 5, figs. 6, 9, 

·1885. 

1 centimeter in length. Midrib very stout, Leaves generally large, ovate-lanceolate, 

. pr01ninent on the under surface of the leaf. broadest at or below the middle. Apex and 

Secondaries thin but well m'arked, nur..1erous, base acutely pointed, the apex often extended 

diverging from the midrib at angles of ;tbout and attenuated. Petiole and midrib stout. 

65°-70° at regular intervals of about 4 I.nilli- Seconda.ries regular, open, thin, ascending, 

·meters and abruptly camptodrome in the mar:- camptodrome, branching from ·the midrib at 

ginal region. Areolation typical of the mod-: I angles of 45° or more. Length about 17 centiern fig leaves of the Ficus benjamine.a and meters. · 

Ficus elastica type. This well-known Up.per Cretaceous species 

The general form of this ~pecies is very was described originally from specimens 

similar to. that of the mostly widespread and found in the ·cenomanian of Moravia, and it 

abundant Upper Cretaceous species such as has been subsequently recorded .from both the 

Ficu$ crassipes Heer, F. krausiana Heer, and Cenomanian a.nd Turonian of Bohemia. It 

F. atavina Heer, with which specimens failing occurs at a large number of American localito show venation 'are Iia.ble to be confused. ties. In the vYest it occurs in the Dakota 

Ficus georgiana Berry ,4o from the Ripley of sandstone; in the East it is common from 

Georgia, is relatively much wider, with a more Marthas Vineyard to Alabama and is present 

open venation ·and more truncatedly rounded between these limits in Ma.ryland, North Caro-. 

base. Ficus mata1..oanensis Berry,5o of the Mata- lina, South Carolina, and Georgia. These ocwan formation in the New Jersey area, has a currences are all in beds of Magothy age or 

similar venation but 'a more linear form and younger. In both North and South Carolina . Ficus fruits ·are associated with this species~ 

~ Berry, E. W., U. S. · Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 84, p. 111, 

pl. 20, fig. 1, 1914. 111 Heer, Oswald, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 6, pt. 2, p. 69, 150 Berry, E'. W., Torrey Bot. Club Bull.;. vol. 38, p. 399, pl. pl. 11, figs. ub, 7b, 8b; pl. 17, fig. 8b; pl. 19, fig. 1b; pl. 20, 

19, fig. 3, 19'11. figs. 1, 2, 1882. 
URTICALES 51 

but whether they are to be r~ferred to it or 

to some of the other rather numerous species 

of Ficus that occur at the same localities can 

not be determined. · 

It is especially abundant in the Middendorf 

arkose member of the Black Creek formation 

in South Carolina and occurs in the lower 

Eutaw h1 both Georgia and Alabama, and in 

the Coffee sand member of the Eutaw fm;mation in western Tennessee. It. has not heretofore been recorded from a horizon as young as 

the Ripley, nor is it at all common in the MeN airy sand member. In the; West it does not 

appear to have been present in post-Dakota 

time. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Ficus obtusa-sessilia Berry, n. sp. 

Plate VII, figures 3, 4 

Spatulate leaves of medium size, widest 

above the middle, with a broadly rounded tip 

and a cuneate, eventually truncate and clasping base, with a thin but somewhat polished 

surface and evenly rounded entire margins. 

Length about 9 centimeters; maximum width 

. about. 1.9 centimeters. Midrib stout and 

prominent, expanding rapidly toward the base. 

Se~ondaries numerous, thin, subparallel, diverging from the midrib at angles of 50° or 

n1ore, straightly ascending, their tips joined 

sonl'e distance within the margins by flat 

arches. Tertiaries thin, comprising a se.ries of 

loops along the margins and narrow transve~sely elongated areoles within the secondaries. 

The venation is that typical of the lanceolate 

figs of the Ficus elastica type, but the obtuse 

· tip and b1~oadly clasping sessile base are unique 

and serve at once to distinguish this sp~cies. 

Among previously described fossil forms the 

present species has the same size and outline 

as the leaves from the Magothy formation of 

New Jersey which I described some years 

ago 52 as Santalv,m novae-caesareae, but that 

was a doubtful generic determination, and the 

B2 Berry, E. W., New Jersey Sta.te Geologis,t Ann. Rept. for 

1905, p. 153, pl. 20, fig. 7 ; pl. 22, fig. 3, 1906: . 

.. 

form differs decidedly frmn the present one in . 

its ascending camptodrome secondaries. 

. Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Pen·y place, Henry Cou~ty, 

Tenn. 

Ficus crassi,pes (Beer) Beer 

Plate VII, figure 5 

Proteoides cmssipes Heer, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 

3, pt. 2, p. 110, pl. 31, figs. 6-8, 1874. 

Ficus crassipes Heer, idem, vol. 6, pt. 2, p. 70, pl. 17, 

fig. 9a ; pl. 24, figs. 1, 2, 1882. 

Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 17, p. 79, 

pl. 13, fig. 3, 1892. 0 

Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Pap~r 84, pp. 37, 

110, pl. 10, fig. 4; pl. 12, figs. 8-10, 1914; Maryland Geol. Survey, Upper Cretaceous, p. 821, pl. 

58, fig. 5 ; pl. 59, figs. 2, 3, 1916. 

Leaves entire, narrowly lanceolate, about 

equally tapering to the acuminate apex and 

base. Length 12 to 20 centimeters; greatest 

width, in middle :part of leaf, 1.8 to 2.5 centinleters: Texture coriaceous. Midrib stout ' often extraordinarily so. Secondaries thin . ' 

open, ascending, camptodrome. 

This species was described originally from 

material obtained in the Atane beds of western Greenland, and the first rather fra<Ymen- • b 

tary speCimens collected suggested a relationship with the genus P~roteoides. Subsequently 

the original describe~· referred it to Ficus, 

where it undoubtedly belongs. Lesquereux 

~a~ recorded it from the Dakota" group," and 

It IS common in the Magothy formation of the 

northern Atlantic Coastal Plain and in the 

Black Creek formation of North Carolina. It 

occurs in the Eutaw formation of Georgia and 

is especially common· in the Middendorf arkose 

member of the Black Creek formation in South 

Carolina. It is not especially common in the 

Tuscaloosa formation. It occurs in the Coffee 

sand member of the Eutaw formation in western Tennessee and in the Bingen sand of 

Arkansas. It does not appear to be common 

in the Ripley, nor has it been found in strata 

younger than the Dakota sandstone in the 

West. 

Occurrence: MeN airY. sand member of Ripley formation·, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 
52 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FOR.MATION 

Ficus celtifolius Berry 

Plate X, figure 1 

l.i'icus celtifoli1ts Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

84, p. "37' pl. 12, fig. 4, 1914. 

Leaves small, entire, elliptical-ovate, with an 

obtusely pointed apex and a broadly roundt:d 

· base. J\1argins entire. Texture subcoriaceous. 

Petioie relativ.ely stout, of variable length. 

J\1idrib stout. Secondaries stout, remote, 

three or four pairs, the lo.wer pair opposite, 

diverging from the m:idrib at its base; or 

just above and functioning as lateral primaries, the rest alternate and less straight. 

All brancho from the midrib at angles of about 

45° and are camptodrome some distance from 

the n1argin. Tertiaries distinct, the inner 

transverse~ the peripheral camptodrome in uniform broad arches. 

This handsome species was first found in th~ 

1\fidclenclorf arkose member of the Black Creek 

formation in South Carolina, where it is rare. 

The South Carolina form was 5.5 centimeters 

in length and 3.7 centimeters in maximum 

width in the basal half of the leaf and had a 

petiole 6 millimeters in length. The Ripley 

form, which is not common in the collections, 

is obviously identical specifically with the type 

but is somewhat smaller, being just over 4 

centimeters in length and 3.1 centimeters in 

maximum width, with a petiole 9 millimeters 

in length. It is very much like the smallest 

leaves in the Vermejo flora which ICnowlton 

refers to Ficus leei. 53 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County. Tenn. 

Ficus leei Knowlton 

F'ic1ts leei Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

98, p. 338, pl. 90, fig. 2, 1916 ; Prof. Paper 101, 

p. 261, pl. 39, figs. 1-6; pl. 40, figs. 1, 2, 1917 .. 

This species, which is exceedingly common 

in the Vermejo formation of southeastern 

Colorado and northeastern New J\1exico, is describ~d by J(now lton as follows : 

Leaves very thick and fieshy in texture, the nervation strongly impressed; shape broadly elliptical, ovateelliptical, or sometimes nearly orbicular the base from 

rounded and truncate to deeply cordate-auriculate, the 

apex abruptly rounded and obtuse or sometimes slightly 

pointed; margin entire or occasionally very slightly 

r;a See, for example,. U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 101, pl. 

39, fig. 3, 1917. 

undulate; petiole short, thick; nervation strong, the 

midrib straight or at most slightly fiexuose, with from 

three to six pairs of strong secondaries, the lowest 

pair arising at the base of the blade, of the same size 

as the midrib and together producing a three-ribbed 

effect; the lowest pair of secondaries (or ribs) with 

from. three· to as many as ten tertiary branches on the 

outside, the lowest of these, 'in the larger leaves, 

nearly at right angles to the midrib, with a numb.er 

of quaternary branches on the lower side, which sup· 

ply the extreme basal portion of the blade ; the secondaries on .the midrib are usually remote, alternate, 

or subopposite, and. sometimes· with a few branches 

on the outside; all nervation camptodrome and arching just inside the margin; nervilles numerous, ·strong, 

mainly unbroken ; finer nervation producing an abundance of irregularly quadrangular areolae. 

In all these leaves the nervation is essentially the 

same. 'l'hus, regardless of size, all are three-ribbed 

from the very base of the blade, and all show the 

same camptodrome secondaries or their branches, with 

the same strong, mainly unbroken nerville~. As the 

leaves become more deeply heart-shaped at base the 

secondary and tertiary nerves which supply the basal 

portion of the blade become more and more branched. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand 1nember of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock. 

Carroll County, Tenn. (not common). 

· Ficus cooperensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate X, figure 2 

Leaves fairly large, ovate, with full rounded 

margins, widest below the 1niddle, with a 

pointed, not prolonged, apex and a ·full bas~ 

rounded in general form but ·slightly decur · 

rent at the petiole. Texture coriaceous. 

Length about 11 centimeters; maximum width 

about 5.5 centimeters. Petiole very stout, 

curved, about 1.5 centimeters in length. J\1idrib very stout, prominent on the lower SUl'·, 

face of the. leaf, slightly curveq. Secondaries 

thin but prominent, about nine opposite to 

alternate subparallel pairs eli verge from the 1

, midrib at ·ang~es of about 45° and are camptodrome in the n1arginal region. Tertiaries thin 

but well marked, percurrent. 

This belongs to a type of ovate fig leaf 

which is con.;non in both recent and fossil 

floras, one in wh:ich the basal secondaries tend 

to be slightly more prominent than those above 

them and eventually lead to forms ]jke Ficns 

schimpe1-i Lesquereux or Ficus psmtdopopulus 

Lesquereux, found in the lower Eocene . of 

this same region. 

Occurrence: :MeN airy sand meml:;er of Ripley 

formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock~ 

Ca;rroll County, Tenn. 

\ 
PLATANALES, RANALES 53 

Ficus georgiana Berry 

Ji'ictts ge01'(Jiana, Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

84, p. 111, pl. 20, fig. 1, 1914. 

This species is represented in the collections 

from the Ripley of western Tennessee only by 

the lower half of a single leaf and is therefore 

included with some hesitation, although the 

rounded base and decurrent margins appear 

characteristic. The spercies was described by 

me in 1914 as follows: 

Leaf ovate-lanceolate in outline, gradually tapering 

to an acute point. Proximately the leaf is broadly 

and abruptly rounded to a point within 2 to 3 millimeters of the midrib, thence decurring as a narrow 

wing 1 millimeter or less in width and preserved for 

a ·distance of 1 centimeter. Length about 17 centimeters. Greatest width, which is near the base of the 

lea:r., 4.5 centimeters. Midrib fairly stout. Margins 

entire. Secondaries thin, parallel, and .numerous, 

branching from the midrib at angles of about 50° and 

curving upward distall~, camptodrome. 

Occurrence: J\1cN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. Cusseta sand member of Ripley formation, near Buena Vista, Marion County, Ga. 

(the type locality for this species). 

Fi,cus carrollensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate X, figure 3 

Leaves of variable size, lanceolate, with an 

acuminate tip and a gradually narrowed acuminate base. Margins entire. Texture coriaceous. Length from 9 to 16 centimeters; 

maximum width from 2 to 3 centimeters. 

Petiole short and stout. Midrib stout, prominent on the lo,ver surface of the leaf. Secondaries thin, numerous, subparallel, diverg~ 

ing from the midrib at angles of about 50° at 

intervals of about 2· millimeters, pursuing a 

rather straight ascending course to the marginal region, where their tips are joined by 

arches subparallel with the margins. Areolation thin, reticulate, mostly obsolete. 

These leaves have a form and venation such 

as is frequently. r0ferred to Eucalyptus .or 

llfy'rtoJJhyllu·m but is more strictly comparable to tha.t of lanceolate species of figs of the 

Ficus elastica type. The present species shows 

considerable resemblance to Ficus laurophylla 

Lesquereux, of the Dakota sandstone of the 

West and the J\1agothy formation of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and may be descended 

from that species. It differs in having a less 

prominent midrib, more ascending secondaries, 

and less prominent areolation. It is a common 

form. in the MeN airy sand member, being 

much more abundantly represented in the collections than any other of the Ficus species 

present. It may be matched by a considerable 

number of existing species of Ficus and also 

suggests comparisons with the lower Eocm1e 

Ficus wilcoxensis Berry, which may represent 

a vVilcox descendant of the present form. It 

is named from its occurrence in Carroll 

County. 

Occurrence: J\1cN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Order PLATANALES 

Family PLATANACEAE 

Genus PLATANUS Linne 

Platanus ripleyensis Berry 

Platanus 1·ipleuensis Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 112, p. 84, pl. 32, fig. 6, 1919. 

This species was described in the publication cited above. So far as known it is confined to the marine Ripley near Eufaula, Barbour County, Ala. 

Platanus sp. Berry 

Plata?ws sp. Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

112, p. 85, pl. 31, figs. 7, 8, 1919. 

This form, of which only incomplete material is ... known, was described and figured in 

the publication cited above. It occurs in the 

.Ripley of eastern Alabama. In. several particulars it suggests the genus Oredneria of 

Zenke~ · 

Occurrence.: Ripley forri1ation, Cowikee 

Creek, Barbour County, Ala. 

Order RANALES 

Family MAGNOLIACEAE 

Genus LIRIODENDRON Linne 

Liriodendron laramiense Ward 

Plate XI, figure 13; Plate XXIII, figure 6 

Li1·iodena1·on lamntiense Ward, U. S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 37, p. 102, pl. 48, fig. 2, 1887. 

Leaves relatively large, rectangular, with 

nearly vertical sides, a wide truncate base and 

a deeply emarginate· apex, giving it a, butter-
54 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

fly-like form. Apical lobes inequilaterally 

rounded. Length 9 to 10 centimeters; maximum width 9 to 10 centimeters; petiole stout, 

not alate, its total length unknown. Midrib 

stout, straight, and 'prominent on the lower surface of the leaf. Secondaries pinnate, five or six 

pairs, stout and prominent proximad, diverging from the midrib at angles of about 60°; 

camptodrome, brachiodrome; the suprabasilar 

pair, which are subopposite, curve· upward 

more than the others and give off numerom; 

camptodrmne branches from their ·outer sides; 

eventually the secondaries unite with those adjacent to form the characteristic Liriodendron 

loops some distance within the margin, which 

is bordered all around by smaller loops of the 

third and fourth order. N ervilles traversing 

the larger areas percurrent and straight or 

curved, or forking and inosculating in the 

middle region; those within the festoons resolving into an areolation of regular quadrate 

or rectangular meshes. Texture subcoriaceous. 

. This is a very characteristic type of Lir-iodendron leaf in size, outline, and venation. 

The present specimens from Tennessee are 

almost exact counterparts of· the less perfect 

type, which came from the Montana group at 

Point of Rocks, Wyo. The type failed to show 

the deeply emarginate sinus reaching twofifths of the distance to the base, but as the 

two agree exactly in all the details observable 

there can be no doubt that they are identical 

or that the Point of Rocks form had a similar 

emarginate apex. " 

The form of Liriodendron laramiense is one 

often approximated by lea ,;es of the modernLiriodendron tulipifera in localized situations, 

such as are supposed to have a phylogenetic 

bearing. That · it . does not represent such a 

. variant of a normally lobate Liriodendron of 

Upper Cretaceous age is substantiated by the 

exact agreement in form between these two 

occurrences over 1,000 miles apart and the entire absence of any other forms of Liriodendron 

either at these localities or in beds of the same 

age in the vicinity. In general outline Liriodendron lararniense is somewhat suggestive 

of Liriodendron alatum Hollick,54 of the Belly 

River and V ermejo formations, particularly 

the large oblong type of that species. It is less 

like the smaller and more rounded specimens of 

M Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 21, p. 467, pl. 220, 1894. 

L. alatun~ figured by l(nmvlton 55 and differs 

from all of these in lacking the conspictJous 

alate petiole, which is so striking a feature of 

that species. 

The past history of Liriodendron is exceedingly interesting and has been commented upon 

at length by me in a number of earlier papers. 56 

At the present time 28 fossil species have been 

recorded, some of which are of doubtful value, 

although the n1ajority are convincing evidence 

of the past variation, abundance, and wide 

distribution of the genus. Twenty-three of 

these fossil species are recorded from the Upper Cretaceous ; all of these except one are 

from North America, and this one, Liriodendron schwarzii Richter,57 is an exceedingly 

doubtful identification from the Senonian of 

Saxony, which I have no hesitation in disregarding ·entirely. The only other recorded 

Cretaceous occurrence of Liriodendron in 

Europe is the identification by Engelhardt 58 of 

Liriodendron meeldi I-Ieer in the Cenomanian 

of Nie.derschoena, Saxony, and this same species 

has been reported by Kurtz 59 from the Upper 

Cretaceous of Argentina. As neither of these 

occurrences has been figured it is impossible to 

speak with absolute assurance, but the fact 

that Liriodendron meekii is one of the least 

well-characterized species of Liriodendron and 

one to which a great variety of leguminous 

leaflets have been referred by former students 

leads me to disregard also these supposed . 

. Cretaceous o'ccurrences in Europe and South 

America as having been based upon incorrect 

identifications. · 

This conclusion is to some extent rendered 

more certain by the great variety of perfectly 

characteristic forms of Liriodendron in North 

America at that time. Here they are found 

from the Atlantic to the Pacific in great 

abundance. In the present Atlf~:ntic Coastal 

Plain region they extend fron1 Long Island to 

Alabama, Tennesse~, Arkansas, and Texas. In 

us Knowlton, 11'. H., U. S. Geol. Sur:vey Bull. 163, p. 13, pl. 

1, fig. 6, 1900; U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 101, p. 269, 

pl. 48, fig. 3, 1918. 

so Berry, E. W., Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 28, pp. 

493-498, pis. 41, 42, 1901; Torreya, vol. 1, pp. 105-107, pis. 

1, 2, 1901 ; vol. 2·, pp. 33-37, pis. 1, 2, 1902 ; voL 3, pp. 

129-132, 4 figs., 1903 ; Bot. Gaz., vol. 3~, pp. 44-63; 3 figs., 

1902. . . 

57 Richter, P. B., Beitrage ~ur Flora der oberen Kreide 

Quedlinburgs, pt. 1, p. 6, pl. 1, fig. 10, 1905. 

58 Engelhardt, Hermann, Naturwiss. Gesell. Isis in Dresden Abh. 7, p. 100, 1891. 00 Kurtz, Federico, Mus. I,a 'Plata Rev., vol. 10, p. 53, 1903. 
RAN ALES 55 

the vV est they are found in ICansas, Nebraska, 

Colorado, Montana, Utah, Iowa, and on Vancouver Island. Most of these are clearly defined and readily recognized distinct species, 

although it is possible that some of the eleven· 

species recorded from a small area in the Dakota sandstone of l(ansas and Nebraska may 

represent merely. variations of fewer botanic 

species. In North American Tertiary strata 

Liriodendron has not yet been recognized, although it would seem . that this genus must 

have been present, for the existing species 

is very common in the Pleistocene of southeastern North America. In Europe, on the other 

hand, Liriodend'ron appears to have been abundant, especially in the later Tertiary, as its maxback to a rather complete . understand~ng of 

this history being the lack of information 

about the Cretaceous floras of Asia, a knowledge of which would probably greatly modify our p1~esent conceptions. All the undoubted 

Cretaceous records are seen to be North 

·American, and all the Tertiary records are 

Arctic and Eurasian. The results of 

Pleistocene glaciation restricted the range of 

the American form and its Chinese .variety to 

the r·egions shown. Although many paleogeographers have questioned a la.nQ bridge 

across the north Atlantic and see in the successive convergences and divergences of the 

terrestrial faunas and floras of Europe and 

North America a succession of interchanges 

FrounE -5.-Sketch map of the world summarizing the geologic history of Liriodendron. 

Cretaceous occurrences, lined area within heavy ellipse; Tertiary occurrences,. lin.ed 

areas within latitudinal lines; existing distribution in solid black. Arrow indicates the ··Upper Cretaceous-Eocene path of migration · 

· imum occurrences are in the Pliocene and come 

rjght down to the first glacial deposits, in 

which fruits and seeds were found which the 

R.eids 60 were unable to distinguish from the 

existing American species. Presumably the 

genus was as abundant in Asia, as undoubted 

leaves are recorded by Schmalhausen 61 from 

the Altai region of central Asia in beds of 

probably Pliocene age. ';['his form undoubtedly represents the stock from which ·came the 

existing Chinese variety. 

The geologic history of the genus is graphically summarized on the accompanying sketch 

map of the world (fig. 5), the only drawoo Reid, C. and: E. :M:., Pliocene flora of the Dutch-Prussian 

border, p. 03, pl. 8, figs. 1-5, 1915. 61 Schmnlhausen, J ., Pnlaeontographicu, vol. 33, p. 211, pl. 

21, figs. 20, 21, 1887. 

and separations in the Bering Strait region, 

the presenc~ of an early Tertiary Liriodendron 

in west Greenland, Icehtnd, the British Isles, 

and central Europe would seem to indicate 

. a north Atlantic path of migration as shown 

on the accompanying map. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member o·f. 

R.ipley formation, Perry place, Henry County~ 

Tenn. 

Genus MAGNOLIA Linne 

Magnolia capellinii Beer 

Magnolia capellinii Heer, Phyllites cretac~es du 

Nebraska, p. 21, pl. 3, figs. 5, 6; 1866; Flora 

fossilis arctica, vol. 3, Abt. 2, p. 115, pl. 33, 

figs. 1-4, 187 4 ; idem, vol. 6, Abt. 2, p. 90, pl. 24, 

figs. 3-5, pl. 25, figs. 1-3, pl. 45, fig. 1, 1882. 

Velenovsky, Die. Flora der bohmischen Kreideformation, pt. 2, p. 20, pl. 7, figs. 8, 9, 1883. 
56 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

Lesquereux, The flora of the Dakota group, p. 

203, pl. 46, fig. 1,. 1892. 

Dawson, Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., 1st ser., vol. 

11, sec. 4, p. 63, pl. 11, fig. 49 ; pl. 13, fig. 49a, 

1894. 

Hollick, New York Acad. Sci. Trans., vol. 12, p. 

234, pl. 6, fig. 6, 1893; New York Bot. Garden 

Bull., VOl. 3, p. 413, pl. 78, fig. 3, 1904; The 

Cretaceous flora of southern New York and 

New England, p. 63, pl. 17, figs. 3, 4, 1907. 

Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull.,· vol. 31, p. 76, pl. 

3, fig. 3, 1904 ;~New Jersey Geol. Survey Ann. 

Rept. for 1905, p. 138, 1906 ; Torrey Bot. Club 

Bull., vol. 34, p. 195, pl. 12, figs. 4, 5, 1907; U. 

S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 112, p. 89, pl. 18, 

fig. 1; pl. 32, fig. 7, 1919. 

Magnolia sp. Berry, Johns Hopkins Univ. Circ., new 

ser., No. 7, p. 81, 1907. 

This species has been repeatedly described 

and figured in recent years. It has been found 

at but a single locality in the Ripley and is not 

altogether typical, so that there is a possibility 

that the Ripley material represents a different 

species. 

Occurrence: Eutaw formation (basal beds), 

McBrides Ford, Chattahoochee County, Ga. 

Ripley formation (J\1cNairy sand member), 21h 

miles southwest of Selmer, McNairy County, 

Tenn. 

Family MENISPERMACEAE 

Genus MENISPERMITES Lesquereux 

Menispermites variabilis Berry 

Menispe1·mites variabilis Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 84, p. 113, pl. 21, figs. 1-4, 1914. 

This species was discovered in the Eutaw 

formation of western Georgia and described· in 

the following terms: 

Leaves of medium size, trilobate but variable in 

shape. Length about .9 or 10 centimeters. Greatest 

width, which is from tip to tip of the laterally directed lobes, as much as 16 centimeters in one specimen. Lobes broad and separated by wide, shallow 

sinuses. Margin entire but in some specimens scalloped, the scallops ·rounded and nearly equilateral, 

separated by acute sinuses. Base peltate, broadly 

rounded as in A.spidiophyllum or '':ith a cordate sinus, 

which does not, however, reach the top of the petiole. 

Primaries stout, three or four in number, palmately 

divergent from the peltate base, three of them generally equal in caliber. Secondaries slender and numerous, some apparently camptodrome and others 

craspedodrome. 

This peculiar species is represented by fragmentary remains which contribute nothing toward a better understanding of its characters. 

Exceedingly variable .in outline, as are most of 

the fossil species that have been referred to 

ill enispe1"17'1ites, its most constant features are 

its trilobate form and peltate base, well shown 

in the Ripley specimens. A more complete 

knowledge of the species n1ust await better material, b:ut it is clearly distinct from other members of Upper Cretaceous floras and is rather 

readily recognized even in f~·agmentary specimens. The type came from McBrides Ford, in 

Chattahoochee County, Ga., and the present 

occurrence demonstrates for the species a geologic range through the Eutaw and a considerable portion of the Ripley formation. Nothing 

clo·sely similar fr01n the Upper Cretaceous 

floras of other regions has been described. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Order PAP A VERALES 

Family CAPPARIDACEAE 

Genus CAPPARIS Linne 

Capparis proeocenica Berry, n. sp. 

Plate X, figures 4, 5 

Graceful leaves of small size, oblanceolate, 

widest medianly, with a rounded tip and acute 

decurrent base and entire, evenly rounded margins. Length from 3.5 to 5 centimeters; maximum width from 6 to 11 millimeters. Petiole 

short and stout, about 2.5 millimeters in length 

in the sm·aller specimens to 6 millimeters in the 

larger. Midrib stout and straight. Secondaries thin, numerous, and subparallel; they diverge from the n1idrib at angles of about 45° 

and are camptodrome in the marginal region; 

the lowest pair are opposite and parallel with 

the margins. 

This species presents some features that suggest the Leguminosae, but on the o'ther hand it 

is very similar to certain· existing American 

species of 0 apparis, as well as to the smaller 

leaves of Oapparis eocenica Berry,62 which is 

a common form in the lower Eocene C\Vilcox 

group) of the Mississippi embayment region. 

This. resemblance is so conclusive that the present form is regarded as ancestral to the Wilcox 

form, a feature emphasized in the name. The 

genus has not heretofore been recognized in 

beds ·as old as the . Upper Cretaceous, and the 

62 Berry, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, p. 218. 

pl. 44, figs. 1-3: pl. 52. fig. 5, 1916. 
ROSALES 57 

present species is not common in the collections 

on which this paper is based. 

The genus OapzJaris embraces more than 

100 existing species of shrubs or small trees, 

chiefly tropical, and although found also in 

the Eastern I-Iemisphere most of the species 

occur in the American Tropics, particuhtrly 

in Central and South America. OazJparis 

domingensis is a small Antillean tree, and its 

leaves, much like this Cretaceous species, are· 

rather sma1ler than those of most of the other 

members of the genus. Several of the 'iV est 

Indian forms-for example, Oapparis fer-

'l''tt,r}'inea Linne, 0. mnygdalina Lamarck, and 

0. oynozJhalloz;ho'ra Linne-are shrubs or small 

trees of the strand flora, 0. fen"ttginea being 

especially common in such an environment. 

The fossil species is somewhat similar to a 

form from the Pliocene of Bolivia described 

by, Engelhardt 03 as Oappa1is 1n1tltine1·-

·vis, which is compared with the existing UapJJa?··is ang'Ltstifolia Humboldt, Bonpland, and 

1\:unth, of southern ~iexico; Oapparis jacobinae 

~ioricaud, of .Brazil; and OapzJaris longifolia, 

fr~m the Antilles, all forms comparable with 

OapJJm•is p1·oeoce11:ica. Unger 04 many ·years 

ago described OapzJmis ogygia, from the mid:. 

clle Miocene of Parschlug, Styria, but Schirnper 05 referred that species to the Phaseoleae. 

In addition Schenk has described petrified material from the Tertiary of Egypt as 0 apJJa'ridoxylon, and F. von MUller has described two 

or three species of fn1its of the genera Dieune 

nncl PlesiocapzJa1·is fr01i1 the late Tertiary o-f 

Australia. Plesiocapparis is said to be most 

closely related to the section. Busbeclcia of 

OapzJaris. · 

Occurrence: 1\icNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, I-Ienry County, 

Tenn. 

Order ROSALES 

Family MIMOSACEAE 

Genus ACACIAPHYLLITES Berry 

Acaciaphyllites cretaceum Berry, n. sp. 

Plate X, figure 6 

Inequilateral sessile falcate-lanceolate phyl 

loclelike leaflets, widest below the middle 1 

oa Engelhardt, Hermann, Naturwiss. Gesell. Isis in Dresdet•. 

Sitzungsb.er., 1894, p. 7, pl. 1, fig. 18. 

o., Ungm·, li'ranz, Genera. et species planta.rum fossilium, p 

44R. 1850. . 

oG Schimpel', W. P., Pul(iontologie v~getale, vol. 3, p. ::>30, 

1874. 

with acute apex and base. and entire slightly 

undulate margins. Texture firm and scarious. 

Venation comprising about ten subparallel 

aerodrome veins, the central ones a pproximated to simulate a midrib, the lateral ones 

equidistant. They are connected by many thin 

oblique forking nm·villes. 

This unique form, represented by two specimens, finds its closest modern analogue in certain species of Acacia in which the leaves are 

reduced to phyllodes, as, f<;>r ex~ul.1ple, in , 

Acacia longifolia 'iVilldenow. The genus 

Acacia comprises between 450 and 500 existing 

species of tropical and subtropical regions, 

l~trgely oriental in their distribution. The sec- . 

tion Phyllodineae, to which the present fossil 

appears referable, includes more than 300 existing species confined to Australia and Ocean .. 

ica. Similar fossil species are extremely rare, 

althoi..1gh several are known from the Tertia~·y 

of both Europe and Americ~. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Perry place, I-Ienry County, 

Tenn. 

Genus MIMOSITES Bower bank 

Mimosites cooperensi~:~ Berry, n. sp. 

Plate X, figure 7 

Petiolulate lanceolate leaflets of somewhat 

variable size, with pointed tip and narrower 

cuneate base, slightly inequilateral. 1\iargins 

entire. Texture subcoriaceous. Petiolule 

stout, about 2 millimeters in length. :Midrib 

stout, curved, prominent. Secondaries thin 

but well marked, numerous, camptodrome. 

Length from 1.4 to 2.5 centimeters; maxinllnn 

width, slightly above the middle, from 3.5 to 

5 millimeters. 

This well-marked species is fom~d at both 

the principal plant-bearing Ripley outcrops 

in western Tennessee. It appears to possess 

the characters,of the genus i11imosites, which 

is so extensively developed in the lower Eocene 

('Vilcox group) of the ~iississippi embayment region, and may be regarded as the late 

Upper Cretaceous prototype of those forms. 

Occurrence : ~1cN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County: 

Cooper pit, near IIollow Rock, Carroll County: 

2lj2 miles south of ~1iffiin, Chester County, 

Tenn. 
58 THE FLORA OF. THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

Family ,CAESALPINIACEAE 

" Genus CAESALPINITES Saporta 

Caesalpinites perryensis· Berry, n. sp. 

Plate X, figure 8 

Narrowly obovate, markedly inequilateral 

sessile leaflets with entir~ margins, · rounded 

apex, cuneate base, and decidedlv coriaceous 

texture. Length about 3 centim~ters; maximum width, in the median. region, about 9 

millimeters. · lVIidrib very stout, prominent, 

curved. Secondaries few, remote, irregular, 

stout, and camptodrome. Tertiary areolation 

well marked, forming a fine isodiametric: mesh. 

This is a well-marked species, clearly differentiated. from associated forms and those 

previously described by the peculiar venation. 

It is -represented in the present collections by 

a single specimen and counterpart. 

Occurrence : J\1cN airy sand membe~· of 

Ripley :formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Caesalpinites ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XI, figure 6 

. Small, elliptical, inequilateral, sessile leaflets, with broadly rounded, distinctly apiculate tip and cuneate base. M~rgins entire. 

Texture subcoriaceous. Length. about 1.8 

centimeters; maximum width, . in median 

region, about 7.5 milli;meters. Midrib stout, 

prominent, straight. Secondaries stout, five or 

six widely spaced paii·s, dive.rging :from the 

midrib at wide angles, and camptodrome by a 

single sweeping arch. 

Like the other Ripley leaflets of ·the 

Leguminosae alliance, this species is rare in 

the present collections. It resembles somewhat 

C ae8alpi~ia middendorfensis Berry, 66 of the 

Mjddendorf arkose n1ember of tl~e Black 

Creek :formation in South Carolina, but is entirely distinct from that species and may be 

regarded as the prototype of . the numerous 

-forms of this type in the lower Eocene (Wilcox group) flora of the ~{ississippi embay.ment 

region. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of 

Ripley :formation, Perry place, I-Ienry County, 

Tenn. 

00 Berry, m. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 84, p. 46, 

pl. 10, fig. 7, 1914. 

Genus BAUHINIA Linne · 

Bauhinia ripleyensis Berry 

Bauhinia ripleyensis Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., 

vol. 43, p. 294,· pl. 16, fig. 1, 1916; U. S. Geol. 

Survey Prof. Paper 112, p. 100, pl. 23, fig. 7, 

1919. 

Leaves of medium size, more or less bilobate 

but much less deeply divided than in the preceding species, obovate. Length along the 

n1idrib 4.5 centimeters; from apex of lobes to 

base 6.7 centimeters; width across upper part 

of the leaf 5.5 centimeters. Apical sinus open, 

extending ·about one-fourth of the distance toward the base of the leaf, its margins at the tip 

of the midrib :forming an angle of about 90°, 

curving slightly upward and then conspicuously .outward to the pointed tips of the lobes, 

which are directed laterally. Outer margins 

of the leaf full and rounded, becoming straight 

toward the broadly cuneate base. Midrib of 

medium size. Lateral primaries ~ranching 

from the base at angles with the n1idrib of 

about 25°, of medium size, curving upward and 

then outward, and running to the tips of the 

lobes.· They give off :four or five camptodrome 

secondaries on the ol).tside and two or· three on 

the inside. The midrib, in its upper half, also 

gives off one or two secondaries on each side. 

Leaf substance somewhat coriaceous. · 

This species, which is sparingly represented 

in the argillaceous greensand inarls along 

Cowikee Creek and is associated with shallowwater or estuarine mollusks of the Ripley formation, is markedly distinct from any other 

. described species of B auhinia. It is much 

smaller and less deeply divided than Bauhinia 

gigamtea Newberry or B auhinia alabamen.sis 

Berry and is much less ornate in character. It. 

is, on the. other hand, much larger than B auhinia marylandica Berry, of the Magothy :formation in the Maryhnd area. It differs from 

all these American Cretaceous species in its 

Dointed, outward-directed lobes but is not unlike a· number of existing species of this genus. 

Occurrence: Cusseta sand member of Ripley 

formation, right bank of Cowikee Creek, oneeighth of a mile above its mouth, Barbour 

·County, Ala.; McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, 2;-2 miles southwest of Selmer, 

MeN airy County, Tenn. 
ROSALES 59 

Family P APILION ACEAE 

Genus DALBERGIA Linne (son) 

Dalbergia cretacea Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XI, figure 3 

Leaflets apparently sessile, inequilateral, 

ovate-emargina.te, widest above the middle. 

Apex widely and openly emarginate, with obtusely rounded ears and a nearly straightsided angular sinus, forming an angle o'f about 

105°. Base cuneate, markedly in-equilateral. 

Margins entire, full and rounded. Texture 

coriaceous. ~Edrib stout, prominent, markedly curved proximad. Sec01~daries thin but 

well m'arked; four or five pairs diverge from 

midrib at angles of about 45°, somewhat irregularly spaced and camptodrome. Tertiaries 

thin but well marked, forming a very fine isodiametric areolation of quadrangular or polyg-. 

onal meshes. Length about 2.75 centimeters; 

maximum width about 1.6 centimeters. 

This well-m'arked form is not abundant in 

the collections. It is largei· and more coriaceous than the associated Dalbe1·gia p?·ewilcoxiana Berry and much broader, more inequilateral, and with a more prominent venation than Dalbergia pe1"1'yana Berry. It is 

much like some of the Greenland Cretaceous 

forms that fleer erroneously referred to LiTiodendron ttneelcii,67 'vhich are the same as the 

types of fleer's 0 olutea p1·imordialis of the 

Atane beds,68 but it is unlike the forms from 

the Ullited States that are commonly referred 

to Oolutea p1imordialis. These all occur at 

somewhat e'arlier horizons, and in the absence 

of comparative material from Greenland the 

problem of revision must be left open, although 

it seems doubtful if any of these forms represent the genus Ooluteg_. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. · 

Dalbergia perryana Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XI, figure 4 

Narrow leaflets, spatulate, widest near the 

tip, the rather straight margins gradually approaching to form the ·narrowly cuneate base. 

Apex retuse~ the midrib extending in the sinus 

07 fleer, Oswald, Flora fossllls arctica, vol. 6, pt. 2, pl. 22, 

figs. 4, 6, 1882. · 

68 Idem, p. 99, pl. 27, figs. 7-11; pl. 43, figs. 7, 8. 

as a mucronate point. Textt1re coriaceous. 

Length about 3 to 3·.75 centimeters; maximum 

width about 8 or 9 1nilliineters; slightly inequilateral. Leaflets practically sessile, the 

short and stout petiolule being not over 1 milli-

·meter in length. Midrib straight, very stout 

and prominent. Secondaiies numerous, thin, 

immersed in the leaf substance and visible only 

under favorable illumination; they diverge 

from the midrib at angles of about 45° and 

are camptodrome and scarcely more prominent 

than the fine tertiary areolation. 

This relatively long and narrow species is 

readily distinguished from the associated species of Dalbergia and from previously described species by its retuse apiculate tip. It 

is represented in the collections by two specimens and may be ancestral to the lower 

Eocene species Dalbergia eocenica Berry,69 of 

this ~arne region. 

Occurrence: ~icNairy sand n1ember of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. · 

Dalbergia prewilcoxiana Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XI, figure 5 

Leaflets petiolulate, narrowly ovate-emarginate, only slightly inequilateral, with an emarginate apex and somewhat dissimilar rounded 

ears. Base ·narrow cuneate, slightly inequilateral. Margins entire, full and evenly rounded. 

Texture subcoriaceous. Length about 13.5 

millimeters; maximum width, above the 

middle, about 5.5 millimeters. Petiolule stout, 

relatively long (about 3 millimeters). Midrib 

very stout and prominent, slightly curved. 

S_econdaries thin, immersed; five or six camptodrome pairs diverge from midrib at acute 

angles. Areolation fine, immersed. 

This tiny species is almost identicai with and 

undoubtedly ancestral to the Eocene embayment species Dalbergia w-i.lcoxiana,70 a fact indicated by the name chosen for it. It differs 

from Dalbergia wilcoxiana in its more prominent ears and in having the venation n1ore 

completely immersed.. It is readily distingt1ished fron1 the other Dalbergias in the 

Ripley formation by its general form and 

smaller size. Not common in collections. 

ail Berry, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, p. 245, 

pl. 53, figs. 1, 2,. 1916. 

10 Idem, p. 246·, pl. 53, fig. 7 ; pl. '54, figs., 1, 2. 
60 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FOR.MATION 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

LEGUMINOSAE (position uncertain) 

Genus LEGUMINOSITES Bowerbank 

Leguminosites canavalioides Berry 

Leguntinosites camavalioide8 Berry, Maryland Geol. 

Survey, Upper Cretaceous, p. 842, pl. 76, fig. 6, 

1916. 

Leaves compound, probably trifoliate. Leaflets large, elliptical, \Y.ith a rounded apex and 

base. Length about 7 centimeters; maximum 

width, in the middle part of the leaflet, about 

G centimeters. l\1argins entire. 'Texture subcoriaceous. Petiolule wanting. Midrib stout, 

becomi1ig attenuated distad. Secondaries numerous, thin, camptoclrome, about ten pairs, eliverging from the midrib at angles of about 

55°. Tertiary areolation ·papiliona~eous, 

mostly immersed. 

This species represents a ·leguminous leaflet 

of unknown generi•c affinity l}amed from its resemblance to the leaflets of the existing species 

Canavalia, which number about a dozen, of the 

Tropics of both hemispheres. In the lo\ver 

Eocene of southeastern North America there is 

an undoubted species of Oanavalia very close 

to the existing Oanavalia obtusifolia (Lamarck) 

De Canclolle, a common vV est Indian strand 

plant . 

. This species was described recently from 

specimens found in the Magothy formation of 

Maryland. \Vhat appears to be the same 

species was apparently mo~·e common along the 

Hipley coast. The Ripley leaves are more 

truly elliptical and not quite so ·broad. The 

texture is subcoriaceous, and the typically leguminous areolakion is \Veil shown in some of 

the specimens. The species may well have been 

ancestral to the lower Eocene forms from the 

Mississippi embayment which have been refen·ed directly to 0 anava:lia. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley· formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, and Perry place, Henry 

CoHnty, Tenn. 

Leguminosites perryensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XI, figure 2 

Leaflets small, sessile, nearly equilateral, 

spatulate, with an obtusely pointed tip and t\ 

cuneate base. Margins entire, slightly undulate on the narrower side. Texture relativeiy 

coriaceous. l\1idrib relatively stout. Secondaries not differentiated fron1 the transversely 

elongated areolation. Length about 1.65 centimeters; n1axinium width, in upper part of leaflet, about 5 millimeters. 

This is a rare form of no decided generic affinities but differing from the other leaflets 

of this alliance represented in the Ripley flora. 

Occurrence: l\1cN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Leguminosites carrollensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XI, figure 1 

Small oval or elliptical leaflets with entire 

margins, rounded tip, and slightly reduced 

base. Sessile and with a midrib which is pronounced proxi1nad and immersed distad, as 

is the balance of the venation. Length about 

10 millimeters; maximmn width about 7 to 8 

millimeters. 

This form is of unknown relationship among 

. the numerous sjmilar leaflets in the Legumino · 

sa e. It is readily· distinguishable from the 

other members of this alliance found in the 

Ripley. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Genus G LEDITSIOPHYLL UM Berry 

Gleditsiophyllum preovatum Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XI, figures 11, 12 

Small, markedly inequilateral, obovate, sessile leaflets, with full, entire 1nargins, rounded, 

slightly apiculate tip, aJJ!l decidedly inequilateral .decurrent base. Texture coriaceous for 

so small a form. Midrib stout,' expanded 

proximad, attenuated distad. Secondaries numerous, thin, ascending, inosculating, camptodrome. Length about 1.75 centimeter; maximum width, above the middle, about 7 millimeters. 

This characteristic small form is similar in 

venation to Gleditsiophyllwn proeocen2cun!J 

Berry, with which it is associated. It is siinihiT to and may be regarded as the prototype of 

Gleditsiophyllttm . ovat?.tm Berry,n which, 

71 Berry, E. W., U. S. ·Oeol. Sm·vey Prof. Pa·pet· 91, p. 23!t 

pl. 51, fig. 1, 1916. ' 
GERANIALES 61 

though of the same size and proportions, has 

the secondaries more individual. G. ovatum is 

a 1nember of the lower Eocene or Wilcox flora 

in the Mississippi embayment region. 

Occ.urrence : MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Gleditsiophyllum proeocenicum Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XI, figures 8-10 

Small, ovate, inequilateral, sessile leaflets, 

with a bluntly pointed apex and a somewhat 

wider obtuse base. Margins entire, full, rounded. Somewhat chartaceous in texture. Length 

about 2.75 centimeters; maximum width, in the 

medial region, about 7.5 millimeters. Midrib 

thin, curved. Second-aries thin but distinct, 

numerous, ascending, inosculating and forming inequilateral camptodrome meshes. 

This well-marked small species resembles a 

host of existing and fossil leaflets of various 

genera of the Leguminosae alliance. It is 

therefore referred to the form genus Gledits.io·-

pl~yll'UJm !"ather than to Leguminosites, as it 

foreshadows the great display of these types in 

the lower Eocene of the M.:ississippi embayment 

region. It is readily differentiated from the 

other members of the Ripley flora and may be 

considered the prototype in that floraof Oleditsiophyllum eocenicWJn Berry,72 which is so 

abundant in the lower Eocene Wilcox flora in 

this region. It is not common in the present 

collections. In smne respects it is similar to 

the form from the ~1iddendorf arkose member 

of the Black Creek for~1ation in South Carolina described as Acaciaphyllites g'revilleoides 

Berry.73 

Occurrence: ~1cN airy sand member of Rip~ 

. ley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Gleditsiophyllum aristatum Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XI, figure 7 

Leaflets lanceolate, falcate, petiolulate, acuminate, widest below the middle and nan·owed 

upward, the midrib produced as a conspicuous 

7a Bel'l'y, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, p. 238, 

pl. 46, 1916. 

7s Bet'l'y, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 84, p. 45, 

J}l. D, figs. 9·, 10, 1914. 

100913-25---5 

aristate process. Base acute, slightly inequilateral. Margins entire, slightly unsymn1etrical. Texture subcoriaceous. Length about 

4.5 centimeters; maximum width about 6.5 

millimeters. Petiolule short and stout, decidedly curved, about 3.5 millimeters in length. 

Midrib stout, curved. Secondaries numerous, 

thin, immersed, camptodrome. Tertiaries obsolete. 

A wel.l-m'arked form conspicuous among the 

Ripley species of the Leguminosae alliance by 

reason of its 1nodern appearance, lanceolate 

shape, and a~·istate tip. Not common in the 

collections. Closely comparable with a variety of modern species of Jltfi'lnosa, Oassia, 

Oaesalpinia, and Gleditsia. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand ·member of Ripley formation, Cooper. pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Order GERANIALES 

Family MELIACEAE 

Genus· CEDRELA Linne 

Cedrela prewilcoxiana Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XII, figure 1 

Leaflets practically sessile, lanceolate and 

falcate, widest in the middle and about equ'ally 

pointed at both ends, with regularly entire 

margins. Texture subcoriaceous. Length 

about 3.5 centimeters; maximum width about 

5 or 6 millimeters. Base slightly inequilateral. 

Midrib relatively stout, expanded proximad. 

Secondaries thin, numerous, camptodrome, immersed. 

This species, which is rare in the present 

collections, is so similar to 0 edrela wilcoxiana 

Berry,74 from the lower Eocene (Wilcox 

group) of the Mississippi embayment region, 

as to suggest the ancestral relationship implied in the name chosen for the Ripley species. 

Its distinguishing characters are its somewhat 

more linear form and expanded midrib at the 

·sessile base, the Wilcox species being petiolulate. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of Ripley form'ation, Cooper· pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

7' Berry, E. W.,, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, p. 253. 

pl. 56,. fig. 1, 1916. 
62 THE FLORA OF ·THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

Family EUPHORBIACEAE 

Genus EUPHORBIOPHYLLUM Ettingshausen 

Euphorbiophyllum petiolatum Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XII, figures 2, 3 

Anar·omeda novaecaesareae Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 84, p. 130 (in part), 1914 (not 

Hollick) ; Prof. Paper 112, p. 130, pl. 30, figs. 

1, 2, 1919. 

Small obovate or incised leaves with.rounded 

apex and decurrent base .. Margins entire ex-. 

cept where leaves are incised by deep acute 

sinus reaching to the midrib. Texture coriaceous. Length about 2 centimeters; maximum 

width about 6 to 8 millimeters. Petiole stout, 

long and curved, about 1 centimeter in length. 

Midrib very stGmt, prominent. Secondaries 

thin, camptodrome. 

This form has been previously found in both 

the Eutaw and the Ripley formations and 

heretofore identified with Andromeda novaecaesar·eae Hollick/5 although attention was 

called to its obtuse form and sometimes incised 

margin. It resembles some of the variants of 

that species but not the normallanceolate form 

with numerous ascending secondaries. The 

normal type has not been found in deposits 

later than the Tuscaloosa formation in the 

Mississippi embayment region, the later forms 

all being obovate or oblanceolate, so that they 

evidently represent a distinct species, which is 

also much 1nore coriaceous. Similar forms 

have been referred to the genus Orotonophyll~tm. 

Occurrence: Eutaw formation, Coffee Bluff, 

Tenn. Cusseta sand member of Ripley formation, Buena Vista, Ga. MeN airy sand member 

of Ripley formation, Perry · plftce, Henry 

County; Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, Carroll County ; 2V2 miles south of Mifflin, Chester County, Tenn. 

Euphorbiophyllum tennesseensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XII, figure 4 

Obovate leaves of medium size, widest in the 

middle with a rounded apex and p.ointed base. 

Margins entire, conspicuously un~ulate. Texture coriaceous. Length about 5.5 centimeters; 

maximum width about 1.5 centimeters. Midrib stout, .prominent, and curved. Secondaries 

numerous, thin, prominent; about ten pairs di76 Hollick, Arthur, in Newberry, J .. S., U. S. Geol. Survey 

Mon. 2·6, p. 121, pL 42, figs. 9~-12; 28-31, 1896. 

verge from the n1idrib at angles of about 70° 

and are camptodrome in the marginal region. 

Tertiaries obsolete. 

This is a relatively shorter and wider form 

with more prominent venation than Euphor- · 

bioph.ylltum antiquu1n Saporta and Marion~ 

differing from that species as well as from E. 

cre.taceum Berry in its obovate form and undulate margins. Like the other two species of 

Euphorbiophyllurn of the Ripley flora, it is 

not a common form in the present collections. 

It is very much like E. vetus Saporta,76 from 

the Lutetian of France. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Euphorbiophyllum cre~ceum ·Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XII, figure 6 

Spatulate. leaves of medium size, with a 

broadly rounded tip and a narrowly cuneate 

base. Margins entire. Texture coriaceous. 

Length about 6.5 centimeters; maximum 

width, in the upper part of the leaf~ about 1.8 

centimeters. Midrib very stout and prominent. Secondaries thin, camptodrome, diverging at wide angles. Tertiaries obsolete. 

This species is similar to Euphorbiophyllum 

antiquum Saporta and ~iarion but much, 

wider, with a finer areolation and more prominent midrib, as well as a more coriaceous textu~·e. It differs fron1 the associated E. tennesseensis' .Berry in general form and in lacking 

the undulate margins and prominent secondaries of that species. It is not common in the 

present collections. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. · 

Euphorbiophyllum antiquum Saporta and Marion 

Plate XII, figure 5 

Euphorbiophyllum antiquum Saporta and· Marion, 

Evolution du regne vegetal, Phanerogames, p. 

117, fig. 125 c, 1885. 

Leaves. spatulate or linear-spatulat~, with a 

rounded or slightly emarginate apex and a. 

narrowly cuneate decurrent base. Margins entire. Texture subcoriaceous. Length 5.5 to 

6.5 centimeters; maximum width, above the 

middle, .1.2 to 1.4 centimeters. Petiole want76 Saporta, Gaston de, 'Le monde des plantes avant l'appa· 

rition de l'homme,. pl. 48, figs. 1, 2. 1879. 
SAPINDALES 63 

ing. Midrib stout, less prominent than in the 

associated species, curved. Secondaries numerous, thin, ·diverging at wide angles, camptodrome. Tertiaries obsolete. 

The material from Tennessee can not be distinguished :from that from the Turonian of 

Bagnols, in southern France, figured by 

Saporta and Marion, although it may well be 

doubted if both represent the same botanic 

species and not closely related type$ not distinguishable by their foliar characters. These 

remains are not uncommon in the Ripley flora, 

where they are associated with three other 

species of E1"phorbiophyllum. The genus was 

established by Ettingshausen, 77 as a :form 

genus for leaves of the family Euphorbiaceae. 

A considerable number of Tertiary species 

have been referred to 'it. These are mostly 

frpm European localities but include a form 

from Greenland and one from Brazil. The 

genus has not heretofore been recognized in 

this country, except for a single species re-

. corded by n1e from the lower Eocene of Tennessee, a. descendant from one of these Ripley 

forms. A second European Cretaceous species, 

E. primordiale, from the Cenomanian of 

Portugal, was described by Saporta.78 

Occurrence: J\1cN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow 

Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. 

Genus MANIHOTITES Berry 

Manihotites georgiana Berry 

Order SAPINDALES 

Family CELASTRACEAE 

Genus CELASTROPHYLLUM Goeppert 

Celastrophyllum carolinensis Berry 

OeZastrophyUum carolinensis Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 84, p. 51, pl. 13, figs. 1-fi, 

1914; Prof. Paper 112, p. 109, pl. 24, figs. o, 

7, 1919. 

This species was described in 1914 as follows: · ' 

Leaves lanceolate in outline, with a pointed. apex 

and a cuneate base, about 14 centimeters in length 

by 2.9 centimeters. in· greatest width, which is about 

midway between the apex and the base, tapering 

equally in· both directions. Midrib stout, rather flexuous. Secondaries numerous, thin, branching from 

the midrib at acute angles of 45° or less, curving upward, usually camptodrome, a few craspedodrome in 

the upper part of the leaf, sending tertiary branches 

into the marginal teeth. Margin entire for a short 

distance at the base, above which it is crenate or 

biconvex, the teeth large and interspersed with 

smaller subordinate teeth of the same character. 

Leaf substance thin. 

It is not uncommon in the Ripley, where 

some of the smaller specimens are only 7 centimeters in length by 1 centimeter in width. 

They also· show considerable variation in mar- : 

ginal characters ; the teeth are sometimes less 

biconvex and more drawn out, lacking sub· 

ordinate te('th. It is possible that the Ripley 

forms represent a new variety, but the char- . 

acters are such that a positive conclusion on 

this point is not possible; they are certainly 

affiliated with this species, and the :fact of · 

their occurrence in younger beds than those 

from which the type was collected suggests 

that they may represent a variety. 

Manihotites georgiana Berry, ·Torrey Bot. Club Bull .. 

vol. 37, p. 507, figs. 1, 2, 1910 ; U. S. Geol. 

Survey Prof. Paper. 84, p. 114, pls. 22, 23, 24, 

figs. 4, 5; text figs. 2, 3, 1914; Torrey Bot. 

Club Bull., vol. 43,. p. 295, 1916. 

One feature of unusual interest in connection 

de- with this species is its great similarity in :form, This remarkable form was recently 

scribed by me in the papers cited above, 

the discussion need not be repeated here. 

~nd texture, and variability to T ernstroemites ripleyemis Berry. Superficially the two are in· 

distinguishable, but the venation shows constant differences throughout a large amount of 

material. The numerous thiri ascending secondaries of Oelastrophyllum aarolinensis are 

replaced in Ternstroemites ripleyensis by :fewer, 

stouter camptodrome secondaries at nearly 

right angles to the midrib, so that the two are 

undoubtedly distinct. It seems probable that 

77 Ettlngshausen, Constantin von, K.-k. geol. Reichsanstalt this is another of the SO-called Species of 

Abh .. vol. 2, pt. 3, No. 2, p. 77, 1853· I Oelastrophyllum that should be referred. t 

Occurrence: Eutaw formation, basal beds, 

1\1cBrides Ford, Chattahoochee County, Ga.· 

Coffee sand member of Eutaw formation, Cof-· 

fee Bluff, Hardin County, Tenn. Cusseta sand· 

member of Ripley formation, near .Buena 

Vista, Marion County, Ga. ; MeN airy sand 

member of Ripley formation 21j2 miles southwest of Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn. 

78 Saporta, Ga.ston de, Flore fossile du Portugal, p. 218, . • . 0 

pi. 39, fig. 23, 1894. Ternstroem~tes, but as I have been unable to 
64 THE FLORA OF T'HE RIPLEY FORMATION 

satisfy myself on this point I prefer not to 

make any change of name at present. The type 

material came from the Middendorf arkose. 

member of the Black Creek formation in South 

Carolina, and the species was subsequently recorded frmn the Tuscaloosa formation of Alabama, where it is not com1non. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Celastrophyllum ripleyanum Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XII, figures 8-~0 

Leaves of small size, obovat~, with. a blunt 

apex and a cuneate and slightly decurrent base. 

Texture subcoriaceous. Length about but prev:ailingly unde-r 2 centimeters; maximum width, 

at. or above the middle, about but prevailingly 

under 1 centimeter. Margins entire in the 

·cuneate basal half of the leaf. Above the middle the margins show seven or eight relatively 

large crenate teeth, increasing gradually in 

size upward and then diminishing toward the 

rounded crenate tip. Petiole practically wanting, not extending beyond the decurrent margins. Midr~b straight, relatively stout below, 

tlun above. Secondaries, seven or eight thin 

p~irs diverging frmn the midrib at acute angles 

and can1ptodrome some distance within the 

margins. Tertiaries thin, mostly long forking and inosculating veins subparallel with the 

secondaries, giving the leaves a .Llfyrsine-like 

character. 

. The number of fossil s·pecies from the American Cretaceous that have been referred to 

Oelastrophyllum is very great. The genus 

makes its appearance in the latest deposits of 

the Lower Cretaceous (Patapsco formation of 

Mary land and Virginia) and continues to be 

prominent throughout the Upper Cretaceous, 

especially in the Atlantic Coastal Plain region. 

It. is much less common in western North 

America and in Europe, being represented in 

Europe by forms usually referred to other 

genera, although Ettingshausen recorded two 

species of Oelastrophyllum from the Cenomanian of Niederschoena, in Saxony. Recently 

l{ryshtofovich 79 has des•cribed a species from 

the Upper Cretaceous of Sakhalin Island, thus 

hinting at a Mesozoic display of these forms in 

79 Kryshtofovich,, A., Imp. Coli. Sci. Tokyo Jo•1r., vol. 40, 

art. 8, p. 54, fig. 11, 1918. 

Asia should plant beds of this age be subsequently discovered. 

There are 8 species of Oela:strophyllum recorded from the Pata psco formation, 12 from 

the Tuscaloosa formation, 9 from the Raritan 

formation, 7 from the Dakota sandstone, 5 

from the Magothy formation, 2 from the Black 

Creek formation, and 3 from the Middendorf 

arkose member of the Black Creek formation 

in South Carolina. In Greenland there is one 

species in the Atane beds and three in the Patoot beds. 

As has been mentioned in a previous publication, it seems very probable that a number 

of these species of Oelastrophyllu1n should be 

referred to the family Ternstroemiaceae. 

Others, like the Ripley species, belong in the 

family Celastraceae. 

The present species is not abundant in the 

Ripley collections. An1ong previously described species it is close to the smaller forms 

of Oelastrophyllum crenatum Heer 80 and 

Oelast1·ophyllum nerwberryanu1n Hollick.80 

Both of these are normally larger, and both 

have been recorded from beds at numerous 

horizons. Thus Oelastrophyllum crenatu1n is 

found in the Pa.toot beds of Greenland and in 

the Raritan, Tuscaloosa, Magothy, and Black 

Creek formations of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. 

Its smallest leaves are twice the size of the 

present species and have n1ore numerous and 

less ascending secondaries. Oelastrophyllum 

newberryanum is also larger and relatively 

wider, with finer serrate teeth and decidedly 

different tertiary venation. · 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County; 

Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, Carroll County, 

Tenn. 

Celastrophyllum minimum Berry, n. sp. 

Pla tP XII, figure 7 

Small, somewhat inequilateralleaves, lanceolate, falcate distad, widest in the basal half, 

with an apiculate tip and inequilateral decurrent base. Margins somewhat irregularly and 

remotely serrate. Texture relatively coriaceous. Length about 2.25 centimeters; maximum width about 5 millimeters. Petiole stout, 

curved, about 3 millimeters in length. Midrib 

so For a recent discussion of these species see Berry, E. W .. 

U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 112, pp. 108, 109, 1919. 
SAPINDALES 65 

stout, not prominent, curved distad with a fold 

in the lamina, similar, for example, to many 

existing ·species of Prwnus. Secondaries immersed, thin, numerous, camptodrmne. 

This small and characteristic form is only 

superficially suggestive of the associated Oelastrophyllum variabilis Berry and seems to me 

clearly referable to the Celastraceae, although 

comparisons may be made with certain forms 

of Ilicaceae. It is rare in the present collections. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of Hipley formation, Perry pl·ace, Henry County, 

Tenn.· 

Celastrophyllum cassinoides Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XII; figure 11 

Leaves oval-lanceolate, widest midway between the apex and base and about equally 

pointed at both ends. Margi~s conspicuously 

undulate, leaf sub:stance thin. Midrib fairly 

stout, curved, not prominent. Secondaries 

thin, remote, camptodrome a considerable distn nee from the margin ; those in the basal part 

of the leaf diverging at acute angles and ascending; those higher up diverging at angles 

of 45° to 50°, straight about halfway to the 

margins, where each forms a wide sweeping 

arch to the secondary next above. Tertiaries 

forming open arches around the margin and 

an open mesh within the secondaries. Areolation very fine meshed. ·Length about 8 centimeters; maximum width about 3.1 millimeters. 

This well-marked species is not closely related to Inost of the Upper Cretaceous forms 

referred to this form genus, many of which I 

have suggested should be transferred to. the 

genus· Ternst?·oe'lnites, but as Oelastrophyllum 

was proposed in the first instance for leaves of 

Celastraceae not generically determinable the 

reference to it of these leaves of Ripley species 

of undoubted Celastraceae is perfectly proper. 

The present species is somewhat smaller and 

narrower than the associated Oelastrophyllum 

pe1"ryi Berry, with more pronounced undulate 

margins. A single dentate tooth is present on 

the left side of the figured spepimen, but this 

is considered an anomaly. The species is not 

common in the collections, and the name is 

give~ in allusion to the resemblance to certain 

existing species of Oassine Linne, a genus to 

which Elaeodendron Jacquin is often referred. 

Occurrence: l\fcN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Celastrophyllum perryi Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XII, figure 12 

Broadly ovate leaves of considerable size, 

widest midway between the apex and base and 

about equally pointed at both ends, the base 

decurrent to the short, stout petiole. Margins 

faintly and irregularly undulate. Leaf substance thin. Length about 10 centimeters; 

maximum wi(J.th about 4.25 centimeters. Midrib straight ~nd stout, especially in the lower 

half of the leaf. Secondaries thin, five or six 

pairs, diverging from the midrib_ at angles of 

about 45° and camptodrome some distance 

within the margins. Tertiaries· forming open 

arches as continuations of the secondaries and 

inside the margins, and open meshes within the 

secondaries; the secondaries are thin and immersed, as is the fine meshed areolation. 

In general facies this species is very similar 

to the associated Oelastrophyllum cassinoides 

Berry, from which it differs in larger size, 

more elliptical form, and more irregular and 

less conspicuous undulate margins. The 

lower secondaries are less ascending, a feature 

correlated with the wider h'asal region. .The 

two are closely related, however, and it is possible that they may represent the variants of 

a single botanic species, a supposition that can 

be thoroughly tested only when very ~uch 

more material is available for study. The 

present form suggests the genus Elaeodendron 

Jacquin, which is confined to Africa in the existing :flor'a but which had a much more extensive range in the late Cretaceous and Ter-:-

tiary. 

-Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Celastrophyllum variabilis Berry, n. sp 

Plate XIII, figure 1 

Leaves small, of somewhat variable form, 

lanceolate, with pointed tip, prominently crenate margins, and decurrent b'ase. Leaf sub- · 

stance of considerable consistency. Length 

2.25 centimeters or less; maximum width, in 

the median :r;egion, 5 to 7 millimeters. Petiole 
66 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

short, stout, and curved. :M:idrib stout, curved. 

Secondaries thin, camptodrome, sending short 

branches to the marginal teeth. Tertiaries obsolete. 

These small somewhat protean leaves are 

considered to represent a Ripley species of 

Celastraceae, although this assignment is not 

conclusive, for they may be compared with 

forms irt a variety of families. For example, 

the Ilicaceae contains si1nilar forms, as does 

also the genus llfyrica. They also show a resemblance to some of the forms referred to 

the genus Tenistroemites, and finally Velenovsky 81 has described a similar leaf from the 

Chlomeke.r sandstone (Emscherian) of Bohemia as Rhus cretacea. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, I-Ienry County, 

Tenn .. 

Genus PACHYSTIMA Rafinesque~ 

Pachystirna? cretacea Berry 

Pachystima? oretaoea Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 84, p. 49, pl. 10, fig. 6, 1914. 

Remains identical with the type material of 

this species are present in western Tennessee. 

It was described by me in 1914 as follows: 

Leaves of small size, oblong or obovate in outline, 

with a rounded apex ·and a narrowed descending base; 

about 2 centimeters in length by 3 millimeters in 

greatest width. Texture coriaceous. Petiole short 

and stout. Midrib stout. Secondaries numerous, fine, 

immersed, ascending. 

It may well be doubted whether these Upper Cretaceous forms represent the modern 

genus Pachystirna, and it would probably have 

been better if they had been referred to. the 

forin genus Oelastrophyllum. 

There are only two existing species of 

Pachystima, one from the East and one from 

the Rocky Mountain area. They are shrubs of 

dry situations, with evergreen, more or less 

revolute leaves. As above stated, the generic 

identification is doubtful, but a fossil species 

of this genus is known from the Miocene of 

Colorado. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Perry p~ace, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

81 Velenovsky, Josef, Die Flora der bohmischen Kreldeformation, pt. 4, p. 7, pl. 4, figs. 7-12, 1885. 

Family ACERACEAE 

Genus ACER Linne 

Acer cretaceurn Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XIII, figure 2 

Leaves of medium size, ovate, feebly trilobate. Apex and lobes mucronate pointed. Base 

cordate. Leaf substance thin but of considerable consistency. Length about 6 centimeters; 

maximum width about 6.75 centimeters. 

~fargins, except the entire cordate base, with 

unequal coarse dentate teeth, which become 

mucronate where a primary or secondary vein 

runs to their apex. Petiole stout, curved and 

expanded proximad, 2.65 centimeters in 

length. Midrib stout, becoming thin distad, 

prominent on the lower surface of the leaf. 

Lateral primaries diverge from the midrib at 

angles of about 50° to 55° at its extreme 

base; they are stout and run to the tips of 

the lateral lobes. Secondaries frmn the midrib, two or three subopposite pairs, diverging at angles of about 50°, stout at first, rapidly thinning, craspedodrome. Secondaries 

from the lateral primaries, three on ·proximal 

side and one on distal side, rather straight, 

craspedodrome, terminating in enlarged mucronate pointed teeth. 

This is a very handsome and characteristic 

species of rna pie, quite d~stinct from the earlier leaves that have been referred to tlv~ 

genus Acer, all of which hitherto recorded 

from the Upper Cretaceous are of doubtful 

identity. In so far as the present collections 

go this species is not common in the Ripley, 

but it should be· realized that negative evidenc;a 

of this kind has very little real weight. The 

maples are essentially Tertiary trees, although 

they evidently originated and enjoyed a considerable dispersal prior to their known 

Eocene occurrences. 

In addition to the present Ripley species 

eight other Cretaceous leaves have been referred to Acer with more or less certainty. A 

review of these, shows that for most of 

them the evidence of identity is far from con-· 

elusive. Thus Acer paucidentatum Hollick 82 

and Acer min'utum Hollick,83 from the Upper 

Cretaceous of Staten Island, N. Y., and Cliff8l1 Hollie!{, Arthur, New York Aead. Set. Trans., vol. 16, p. 

132, pl. 14, figs. 2, 3, 1897. · 

sa Idem, vol. 12, p. 35, pl. 3, fig. 6, 1892. 
RHAMNALES 67 

wood, N. J·., are very doubtful and in my 

judgment do .not represent Acer j Acer amboyense Newberry,84 based on fruits from New 

Jersey and Marthas Vineyard, probably represents Pinus j Acer sa.skatchewense ·nawson,scs 

from Northwest Territory, is of uncertai.:.1 

value; and .Acmites 1n~~ltiformis Lesquereux,86 

from the Dakota sandstone, and Acer antiquum 

Ettingshausen,87 from the Cenomanian of 

Saxony, are very doubtful, although · they 

somewhat resemble one another and show a 

certain resemblance to N egundo. 

The only Cretaceous species outside the Ripley that are of unquestionable identity are 

Acer caudatum88 and Aoer edentatum. 89 . 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Order RHAMN ALES 

Family RHAMNACEAE 

Genus RHAMNUS Linne 

Rhamnus ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XIII, figure 3_ 

Leaves lanceolate, somewhat irregular in 

form, with a narrowly pointed tip and a more 

abruptly pointed base. Margins entire but 

irregularly rounded. Texture coriaceous. 

Length about 9 centimeters; 1naximum width, 

slightly below the middle, about 2.2 centimeters. Petiole short and stout. Midrib very 

stout and prominent on the lower surface of 

tl13 lea£, slightly flexuous. Secondaries ;numerous, stout, prominent, subparallel, diverging from the _midrib at angles of about 65 °, 

curvillg regularly, camptodrome close to the 

m.argins. Tertiaries thin, very close-set, percurrent. 

This species is distinct among the various 

Upper Cretaceous species that have been referred to Rhamn~l·S. It is relatively more narrowly elongate than most of the other species 

B4 Newberry, J. S., U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 26, p. 106, pl. 

46, figs. 5-8,. 1896. 

S& Dawson, J. W., Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., vol..3, sec. 4, p . 

. 16, 1886. 

so Lesquereux, Leo, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 17, p. 156, 

pl. 34, figs. 1-9, 1892. 

s1 Ettingshausen, Constantin von, Kreidefl.ora von Niederschoena, p. 2-.3, pl. 3. fig. 17, 1867. 

ljlj Heer, Oswald, }j"lora fossilis arctica, vol. 7, p. 38, pl. 65, 

figs. 1, 2, 1883. 

Bll Idem, p. 39. pl. 65, fig. 3. 

of this genus but conforms to the type, with 

numerous well-marked secondaries,' camptodrome close to the margins, and with numerous 

subparallel percurrent tertiaries. It does not 

appear to have been a common form in the 

Ripley. 

Occurrence : l\1cN airy sand n1ember of Ripley formation, Perry· place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Genus ZIZY:PHUS Linne 

Zizyphus laurifolius Berry 

Plate XIII, figure 4 

Zizyphus lctu-rifolius Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 84, p. 116, pl. 21,. fig. 7, 1914; Prof. Paper 

112, p. 113, 1919. 

Leaves linear-J.anceolate, with entire margins, about equally and abruptly pointed at the 

apex and base. Length 9 to 11 centimeters; 

maximum width 1.5 to 2 centimeters. Petiole 

missing in all specimens so ·far discovered. 

Primaries three, eli verging at or ·a short distance above the base. Midrib stouter and much 

more promin~nt than the lateral primaries, 

which diverge from it at acute angles and 

sweep upward, pa.rallel with the lateral margins, to or above the middle of the leaf, where 

they join short branches from the lowest secondaries. Secondaries thin; three or four alternate to opposite pai1~s diverge from the midrib at acute angles in the upPer part of the 

leaf and sweep upwa.rd in long, regularly and 

but slightly arched camptodrome curves. A 

few thin camptodrome secondaries diverge· at 

acute angles from the outer sides of the lateral 

primaries. Tertiary venation obso~ete. Texture coriaceous. 

This species was described from the lower 

Eutaw of the Chattahoochee drainage basin, 

''here it was represented by a scant amount of 

rather poorly preserved material. The material from western Tennessee is similra.r ly 

scanty but somewhat better preserved and enables me to amplify somewhat the previous 

characterization of the species. It is easily 

distinguished from the associated Ripley specie$ by its entire margins and may be readily 

distinguished from all the other Upper Cretaceous entire-margined 5pecies except Zizyphus 

cliff~ooodensis Berry 90 by its· size and elonga.-

oo Johns Hopkins Univ. Circ., new ser., No .. 7, p. 88, fig. 5, 

1!)07. 
68 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

tion. Zizyphus cliffwoodensis, which comes 

from the.Magothy formation of New Jersey, is 

still larger, ovate-lanceolate, and with numerous conspicuous percurrent tertiaries. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, llh miles south of 

Hollow Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. 

Zizyphus ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XIII, figures 5-9 

Leaves of variable size, l'anceolate or ovatelanceolate, widest slightly below the middl~, 

tapering downward to the acute base, which is 

sometimes inequilateral, and upward to the 

slender, acute, and slightly extended tip. 

Length 4.5 to 9 centimeters; maximum width 

1.5 to 2.4 centimeters. Margins entire for 

their basal third, above which they 'are beset 

with somewhat remote serrate teeth, which are 

often unequally spaced and vary in prominence not only from specimen to specimen 

but in a single individual. Primaries three, 

diverging at or near the base, the midrib being 

much the stoutest. The lateral primaries diverge at .'acute angles, curving upward parallel 

with the lateral margins and becoming thinner 

in the distal third of the leaf as they arch 

from end to end of the straight outer branches 

of the superjacent secondaries. Secondaries 

from the midrib two or three pairs in the 

upper part of the leaf, diverging at acute 

angles 'and sweeping upward in long ascending 

curves. Tertiaries thin, approximately transverse, either percurrent or inosculating midway between lateral primaries and the midrib ; 

those from the outer side of the lateral primaries form abruptly camptodrome arches and 

send off short branches to the margin'al teeth. 

Texture coriaceous. 

This well-marked species is readily distinguishable from the other known Cre.taceous 

species, the only one of which that at all resembles it being Zizyphus dakotensis Lesquereux,91 a prevailingly larger and much more 

elongated fonn with thinner primaries and 

more prominent teeth. Among recent species 

the leaves of Zizypl},~ts vulgaris Lamarck are· 

not unlike the present fossil species. The great 

v~riety of leaves of Zizyphus in the Upper 

Cretaceous of North America and their ab01 Lesquereux, Leo, The flora of the Dakota. group: U. S. 

Geol. Survey Mon. 17, p. 167, pi. 36, figs. 4-7, 189·2. 

sence from the numerous Cretaceous plantbearing beds of Europe is a fact of considerable significance. No less than ten diff·erent 

species have been recorded from the American 

Cretaceous, and although some of these are of 

doubtful validity, as, for example, Zizyphus 

oblongus Hollick,92 the majority are well characterized and undoubtedly related to Zizyphus. The only Eurasian Zizyphus known 

from the Cretaceous is the forn1 identified as 

Zizyphus dakotensis Lesquereux by ICryshtofovich, 93 from the Cenomanian of the Ural 

region, and the indistinctness of his figure precludes passing a critical judgment on the identification, although it appears to he correct. 

If it is correct, then the oldest known form is 

from the Oenomani.an of the Ural region, on 

_the assumption that the age of the beds in 

which it was found was correctly determined, 

which is doubtful, for all the American occurrences are post-Raritan and pre~uma.bly 

post-Cenomanian. Although Zizyphus is recorded from the Cretaceous of l(ansas and 

New Mexico and doubtfully from Alaska, it 

makes its greatest display both in numbers 

and variety ~n the Atlantic Coastal Plain. 

With the dawn of the Eocene the genus appeared in force in Europe, although equally 

abundant on both continents, ten species being 

recorded from each, the bulk in both being in 

the lower Eocene. 

There are 10 Oligocene and 20 Miocene 

species, the genus being clearly cosmopolitan 

in the J\1iocene epoch. The Pliocene records 

shrink to 4 or 5 species, all European, although 

the presence of fruits in the Pleistocene of 

New Jersey and Florida would seem to indicate continuous residence in North America 

until comparatively recent time. The modern 

species number two score, largely shrubs, many 

of which are prostrate or scrambling, and a 

few small trees, with their maxim~m development in the Indo-l\1alayan region,' alt.hough 

present in the Tropics of eastern Asia, America, Africa, and Australia, as well as in Mediterranean Europe and South Africa. 

Some of the existing species are extensively 

planted, and Zizyphus vulgaris has become 

naturalized in some of our Gulf States, so that 

the extinction of the genus in North America 

~3 Hollick, Arthur, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon .. 50,. p·. 92, pl. 

34, figs .. 9, 10, 1906. 

oa Kryshtofovich,, A., Acad. imp. sci. St.-Petersbourg Bull., 

6th ser., p. 608, fig. 7, 1914. 
RHAMNALES 69 

.ilJ late Pleistocene or postglacial time is another one of th~ unsolved mysteries of plant 

h]story. The accompanying sketch map (fig. 

6) shows the limits of natural range of Zizy-

'phus in the existing flora. It will be noted 

that the Cretaceous occurrences are mainly 

occidental, and from early Eocene time onward the genus is cosmopolitan in the Northern Hemisphere. The late Tertiary occurrences are largely European and would seem 

to indicate the waning of the genus in the 

'V QStern. Hemisphere, although the presence of 

fruit remains in the late Pleistocene of New 

Jersey and Florida indicates straggling species 

down to almost recent time. 

from the base of the midrib at acute angles, 

ascending rather straight about halfway to the 

tip, where they join an outward branch from 

the lowest secondary. Secondaries four or 

five subopposite remotely spaced pairs, stout., 

camptodrome; the lowest pair longest and 

regularly curved; the others straight halfway 

to the margin and then each with a single flat 

camptodrome curve to the secondary next 

above. Secondaries from the outside of the 

primaries forming r:ather straight-sided and 

flat-arched areas. Tertiaries relatively ·Stout 

and prominent, forming arches immediately 

within the margins and an open, prevailingly 

quadrangular mesh within the secondaries and 

FIGURE 6.-Sketch map of the world summarizing the geologic history of Zizyphus. 

Area within heavy line, maximum existing development; area within th.ln lines,, 

limit of existing natural range; northeast-southwest diagonal lines, regions of 

Cretaceous occurrences ; northwest-southeast diagonal lines, regions of Tertiary 

occurrences ; solid circles, areas of .Pleistocene occurrences 

Occurrence : J\1cN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. (common) ; Cooper pit, near Hollow 

Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. (rare) . 

Zizyphus perryi Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XIII, figure 10 

Leaves fairly large, ovate, widest below the 

middle, tapering in almost straight converging lines to the acute tip; the lower lateral 

margins full and rounded, and the base broadly cuneate. J\1argins irregularly dentate to 

serrate, the teeth tending to be most prominent below the middle, in general with shallowly rounded, almost equilateral sinuses. 

Texture subcoriaceous. Petiole missing in all 

the specimens. J\1idrib stout, prominent.~ 

curved. Lateral primaries stout, diverging n 

100913-25--6 

primaries. Length· about · 10 centimeters; 

maximum width about 4.5 centimeters. 

This characteristic form is named in appreciation of the Perry family, on whose property the fossiliferous Ripley clays .are exposed 

and whose intelligent interest was most helpful .in making the collections. It is a larger 

and relatively wider species than Zizyphus 

ripleyensis Berry, with much smaller marginal teeth. The remains· are usually broken 

but are not uncommon in the collections. The 

specimen figured is the only one showing the 

whole leaf, one other upper :P,alf and four 

basal halves of leaves representing the rest of 

the material referred to this specie~. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand 1nember of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 
70 TI-fE "FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATIO:X 

Family VITACEAE 

Genus CIS SITES Heer 

Cissites crisp us V elenovsky 

Cis.sites cr·~sznts Velenovsky, Die Flora cler bohmischen Kreideformation, pt. 4, p. 12, pl. 4, 

fig. 6, 1885 (not Newberry, 1896, nor Berry, 

1911). Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 43, 

p. 296, 1916. 

Oissites crispus was identified fr01n the 

Raritan formation of New Jersey by Newberry and from the Magothy formation of 

that State by Berry, but neither of these occurrences represents the European form·, so 

that recently I have made the~ the basis of 

a new species, Oissites newberryi. 94 

A perfectly well characterized,. small-leafecl 

form that appears to be identical with the 

Bohemian type -of Oissites crispus is, how-

.ever, present in the Ripley formation of western Tennessee. It differs from Oissites newberryi in its relatively shorter and wider form, 

its crenate instead of serrate or dentate teeth, 

its les~ ascending secondaries, and its cordate 

base. 

The type and only other known occurrence 

of Oissites crispus is in the Chlomeker beds 

(Emscherian) of Bohemia. 

Occurrence: ~IcN airy sand membe.r of Ripley formation, 21;2 miles southwest of Selmer, 

MeN airy County, Tenn .. 

Cissites panduratus Knowlton 

Plate XIV 

Cissites pandttratus Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 101, p. 27 4, _pl. 49, fig. 10, 1918. 

Leaves of variable size, multiloba.te, prevailingly quinquelobate, derived from a trilobate 

ancestor. by the development of subordinate 

basal lobes on either side, which in the Tennessee material tend to be shorter than in the type 

material from the _Raton Mesa region, although 

the medium-sized specimen from Tennessee figured here is almost an exa.ct duplicate of the 

type. Main sinuses extending more than halfway to the base, broadly and rather evenly 

rounded; middle lobe obovate, with a lateral 

lobe of greater or less development on either 

·side, obtusely pointed; main lateral lobes unsymmetrically obovate, narrower than the terminal lobe, obtusely pointed, entire on the dis04. Berry, E. W., Maryland Geol. Survey, Up·per Cretaceous, 

p. 856, 1916. 

tal side, entire on proximal side in the· small 

leaf figured, in the other with· a subordinate 

lobe developed to a greater or less degree; basal 

lobes narrower and less extended than the 

others, obtusely rounded, .at right angles to 

midrib, without subordinate lobes, although the 

beginning of a lobule is indicated on the right 

proximal side in the 1nedimn-sized specimen 

figured. Length from 5.5 to 12 centin1eters: 

maxin1um width 5 to 11.5 centi1neters. Petiole. 

missing in Tennessee material, long and stout 

in the type, at least 3 centimeters in length. 

\: enation quinquepa.lmate from point at or 

near the base. JV[idvein fairly stout and nea:rly 

straight. ~1:iclveins of main ·lateral lobes eliverging from central vein at angles of 25° to 

40°, nearly straight or somewhat curved, as 

shown in specjmens figured; midnb of basal 

lobes of lesser caliber, tending to be inserted 

just above the base of-the lateral primaries, diverging at angles· of 30° to 40° and curving 

o11tward; iri the single type specimen the basal 

lobes are somewhat wider than in the Tennessee material and their midvein is nearest the 

distal margin, where as in the Tennessee specimens they are nlore nearly centra.! in position. 

Secondaries rather remote and slender, diverging at acute angles and curving upward m 

gentle long curves; those that run to the tips 

of subordinate lobes somewhat stouter and 

longer; the rest camptoclrome except those that 

run to the sinuses, which unite to form a more 

or less well-developed margina.I hem, such as 

is so well developed in the n1odern and some of 

the fossil lobate leaves of Sa8safras. The 

tertiary areolation is not discernible. The texture is thin and not coriaceous but scarcely 

merits .the term membranaceous applied to the 

type. 

This species was based t1pon the single specimen .figured by Knowlton, from the Vermejo 

formation of southeastern Colorado. It is 

very abundant in the MeN airy sand member 

of the Ripley formation of Tennessee, so that 

·the description can be somewhat amplified and 

the range in size and outline c'an be evaluated. 

Knowlton compared the species with Acer, 

Liriodendron, Oissus, and V itis and pointed 

out its resemblance to Oissite?J formosus Heer, 

more especially to the trilobate forms from the 

Dakota sandstone ascribed to that species by 

Lesquereux. Heer's type of Oissites formosus, D 
RHAMNALES 71 

as well as the forms from the Raritan formation of New Jersey referred to this species by 

Newberry are distinctly not trilobate 'and, 

though they show considerable variation, are 

extremely close to the present species,. as can 

be appreciat.ed by referring to the restorations 

published in 1917. 011 There is not the slightest 

doubt that Oissites pa.nduratus is properly .referred to Oissites, and I consider it specifically 

distinct from Oissites formosus, which has departed less from the original trilobate stock; 

the b'asal lobes are still lobules of the lateral 

lobes, from which .they are separated by a shallow sinus and are not yet independent basal 

lobes; the basal margin is decurrent and not 

truncate; and the primaries are three and distinctly suprabasil'ar. 

An interesting series of variations from this 

central and ancestral stock of the Atane beds 

of 'vestern Greenland has since come to light. 

In the Raritan formation of New Jersey it is 

represented by forms distinctly more sublobate, 

and the same tendency resl.llts in the form 

Oissites dentatolobat~ts, from the Dakota sandstone, described' by Lesquereux, which is not 

unlike a form from the Perucer beds ( Cenomanian) of Bohemia described by Velenovsky. 

A narrow, less sublobate, and more elongate 

variant of Oissite8 formosus that preserves the 

05 Berry, E. W., Maryland Geol. Survey, Upper Cretaceous, 

pl. 79, figs. 1, 2, 1917. 

ancestral decurrent basal margins and tripalmate suprabasilar primaries is Oissites fornwsus 1nagothiensis Berry, from the somewhat 

later J\1agothy formation of Maryland. Ois·-

sites panduratus, from the approximately contemporaneous but later horizon in Colorado· 

and western Tennessee, may be derived from 

Heer's type by the truncation of• the base, the 

deepening of the sinuses, and the corresponding .downward and outer movement of the 

lobule of the lateral lobes, which become distinct though somewhat subordinate lobes with 

a corresponding change in position of their 

midveins. We have here as clearly marked 

an evolutionary series as can be cited from 

allied fields of paleozoology, for although we 

are dealing with only foliar. remains they pre~ 

serve their generic facies through rather wide 

variations, and although a.t .each recorded 

horizon they are variable in form, these variations culminate in successively· younger occurrences, so that the latest form is most decidedly 

distinct from the earliest. It would perhaps 

be well to consider the Raritan form as a constant enough variant of Oissites formosus to 

merit a distinct varietal name, but that is of 

little consequence in the present connection, as 

I wish to emphasize here the place of origin 

and subsequent modification and radiation of 

this series of forms. This might be repeated 

diagrammatically as follows: 

Cissites formosus Heer ( Atane beds of Greenland) 

----\ \ \ ---- \ \ \ ---- \ 

Variant in ;r{a'~ formation of \ \ \ 

New Jersey . \ \ Cissites dentatolobatus Lesque- . reux (Dakota sandstone of \ \ 

Kansas) 

Cissites formosus magothiensis \ 

The diagram clearly shows .the relationship 

of these forms, but it; implies an Arctic origin, 

which does not fully accord with the facts as I 

understand them. As allied species occur in 

the Atane beds of Greenland, the Cenomanian 

of central Europe, and beds of approximately 

the same age in New Jersey and J(ansas, it is 

Berry (Magothy formation of 

New Jersey) . 

Cissites panduratus Knowlton . (Vermejo formation of Colorado and Ripley formation of 

'fennessee) 

obvious that none of. these specific regions correspond with the original center of radiation, 

and if the current conceptions of mid-Cretaceous paleogeography are considered it will be 

seen that the region which exactly fits the requirements is the central or north Asiatic region, from which it spread southwestward into 
72 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY· FORMATION 

Europe, across the Arctic mainland to Green-~ The diagram may be recast more correctly and 

land, and across the Bering region to Kansas. somewhat amplified as follows: 

Hypothetical Asiatic ancestor 

------~~--- \ \ 

Cissites form~eer (Atane \ \ 

/ beds of Greenland) 

~ . \ \ \ 

Raritan variant\ \ \ \ (New Jersey) \ 

\ \ \Cissites vitifolia Velenovsky (Ceno- Cissites formosus mago- manian of Bohemiaj 

thiensis (Mag7thy, \ · Maryland) Gissites dentatolobatus _ Lesquereux (Dakota 

sandstone of Kansas) Co1orado Tennessee 

Cissites panduratus Knowlton 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Order MAL VALES 

Family TILIACEAE 

Genus GREWIOPSIS Saporta 

Grewiopsis ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XV, figure 2 

Ovate to narrowly cordate leaves of mediumlarge size, with pointed tip and a somewhat 

cordate base. Substance thin but firm and 

polished. Margins with large, somewhat irregular serrate teeth. Length about 10 centimeters; ma~imum width, near the base, about 

7 . centimeters. Petiole missing, obviously 

stout. Midrib stout, fairly prominent. Lateral primaries three on each side, diverging at 

acute angles from the top of the petiole. Outside pair short and straight, directed at right 

angles to midrib, craspedodrome. Second pair 

also short and straight, about 50 per cent 

longer than the outside pair, terminating in 

marginal teeth in the lower half of the leaf. 

Third pair longer, diverging from midrib at 

angles of about 35°, curving upward and terIr..inating in marginal teeth in the upper half 

of the leaf, sending off on the outside regularly· spaced craspedodrome branches. Secondaries from the midrib generally three alterr..ate pairs, the lowest 3 centimeters or more 

above the lateral primaries, diverging from 

the midrib at angles of about 45° or 50°, curving regularly upward and craspedodrome, 

sending outward thin branches to the marginal 

teeth. Tertiaries thin but well marked, 

curved, percurrent or inosculating in the 

region midway between secondaries nnd primaries. Areolation fine meshed, largely. immersed in the leaf substance. 

This handsome species is obviously new. It 

is a type of leaf often referr~d to the genus 

Populus, and similar forms have sometimes 

been considered as representing nonlobate 

leaves of Platanus, but it is certainly not related to these two genera and is obviously related to a variety of forms in· the order Malvales. In order not to be too specific in its 

generic determination it is referred to the form 

genus Grewiopsis, which was instituted by 

Saporta in 1866 for leaves referable tn the 

order Malvales but riot positively referable to 

existing genera. He compared these leaves, 

which were abundant in the " Pal~ocene " of 

Sezanne, France, with the existing genera 

Sida, A.butilon, Pterospermum, Dombeya, 

Grewia, Sparmannia, Luhea, and Tilia of this 

order. They have also been compared, on what 

seem to me doubtful grounds, with the extinct 

genus Oredneria Zenker. About a score ·of 

species are known, largely from the early 

Eocene of Europe and America. Two species 

are known from the Dakota.sandstone, Grewiopsis aequidenta-ta and Grew·iopsis flabellata. 

both described by Lesquereux. Lesquereux described a third species, Grerwiopsis mudgei~ 

but this was an unintentional redescription· of 

the typ~ of Grewiopsis aequidentata. G~rewiopsis flabellata has been recorded from the 

Magothy formation in the Coastal Plain of 

Mary land. A third species, Grewiopsis cle-
MALVALES 73 

bur'ni, has been recorded by Lesquereux from 

the Cretaceous of the Montana group, and 

there are ·two well-characterized species in the 

Tuscaloosa formation of Alabama. 

The two Tuscaloosa forms, as we.ll as the 

present species, are more closely allied to certain modern. genera of the family Tiliaceae. 

These .are G1·ewia Linne, which has about 90 

species, mostly tropical, in the Old World; 

. Hockenya 'Villdenow, which has about 15 

species in the American Tropics, extending 

from the Antilles and Central America to 

Brazil; and Trium}etta Linne, with about 60 

species in the Tropics of both hemispheres~ ex·· 

tending northward in America to the Antilles. 

Occurrence: l\icN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollm:v 

Rock,. Carroll County, Tenn. 

Grewiopsis inequilateralis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XV, figure 1 

Leaves smaller than those of Grewiopsi:s 

riJJleyensis, markedly inequilateral in all the 

four specimens contained in the present collection, oval, with a bluntly pointed, not extended tip and an obliquely truncated rounded 

base. Texture much more coriaceous than in 

the preceding species. Length from 3.5 to 5.5 

centimeters; width in the median region 2.5 

to 4 centimeters. Margins entire below; above 

the truncated base with large dentate teeth, 

showing a tendency to become slightly sublobate with rounded shallow sinuses. Petiole 

long and stout. l\1idrib stout and prominent. 

Lateral primaries fron1 the top of the petiole, 

usually two on one side and one on the other, 

diverging frmn one another at acute angles. 

The odd one is short and not much curved, 

craspedodrome. The pair a.re curved, ascending, and craspedodrome; all send regular 

curved secondaries on the outside to the marginal teeth. Beyond an interval above the 

primaries the midrib sends off a pair of curvt!d 

craspedodrome secondaries, ancl there are two 

additional small pairs in the upper part of the 

leaf. Tertiaries percurrent and not prominent: areolation obsolete. 

The largest specimen of this species is figured, and it should be noted that the peculiar 

base is normal and not broken in any way. 

One of the smaller specimens is less iriequilateral, but the other two are similar in thi"s re-

~pect to the figured specimens. 

The species is obviously distinct from previously described forms and readily recognized. The only fossil leaf to which I have 

noted any resemblance is a form from the lower 

Eocene which Ward 96 identified with Acer 

·indivisum Weber, an .obvious J;Distake. This 

has since been considered an abnormal form 

of the American leaves that have been referred 

to Platanus guillelmae Goeppert. 

The present species finds its nearest living 

analogues in the tiliaceous genera Grewia, T?'iumfetta, ·and H ocke.nya. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, and 

Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, Carroll County, 

Tenn. 

Family STERCULIACEAE 

Genus STERCULIA Linne 

Sterculia snowii tennesseensis Berry 

Sterculia snowii tennesseensis Berry, Torrey Bot. Club 

Bull., vol. 43, p. 296, pl. 16, fig. 5, 1916; U. S. 

Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 112, p. 117, pl. 32, fig. 

1, 1919. 

Leaf bilobate, with a bluntly pointed base 

and gradually narrowed acuminate recurved 

apical lobes. . Length about 11 centimeters; 

width of the entire basal part of the leaf 2.5 

to 2.75 centimeters; width of lobes 1.1 to 1.6 

centimeters. Margins entire. Texture subcoriaceous. Sinus extending· halfway to the 

base or less, open, na.rrowly rounded. Midrib 

Etout, flexuous. Lateral primary stout, diverging from the midrib at an acute angle about 3 

centimeters above its base. Secondaries thin, 

largely immersed, diverging from the primaries at wide angles and at regular intervals, 

arching in a camptodrome manner near the 

margins. 

This striking form is unfortunately repre·-

sented by only two specimens, both of which 

are bilobate, although, like so many other fossil 

and existing species of Sterculia, it may well 

have· varied froni entire to trilobate. Among 

previously described fossil forms it may be 

compared with the species from the Magothy 

formation in New Jersey and Maryland, Sterculia minima Berry,· which is a smaller and 

more variable form, or with tlie species from 

the Dakota sandstone, Sterculia mucronata 

00 Ward, L. F., U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 37, p. 66, pl. 29, 

fig. 5, 1887. 
74 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

Lesquereux and Sterculia· snowii Lesquereux. 

Sterculia snowii, though often much larger 

and with five lobes, is extremely variable. Two 

named varieties of it have: already been recog~ 

nized, and the general character and venation 

of this Tennessee for.t;n leads me to conclude 

that it represents another variety of this pro~ 

tean species. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Rip~ 

ley formation, 2! miles southwest of Selmer, 

MeN airy County, Tenn. 

Order PARIETALES 

Family DILLENIACEAE 

Genus DILLENITE~ Berry 

Dillenites cretace us Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XV, ~gure 5 

Leaves of medium size, ovate, widest below 

the middle and tapering upward to the acuminate tip. Base rounded or broadly cuneate. 

Margins dent'ate. Length about 8 to 9 centi~ 

meters; maximum width 3.4 to 4 centimeters. 

Petiole medium stout, about 1 centimeter in 

length. Midrib stout and prominent. Secondaries thin but prominent, numerous, subopposite to alternate, subparallel, camptodrome; about nine to twelve pairs diverge 

from the midrib at angles of about 45°. Tertiaries thin, percurrent. 

These leaves are clearly allied to the several 

species of Dille11ites from the lower Eocene of 

the Mississippi emb'ayment which I have described and which represent early forms of 

Dilleniaceae. The present species is the only 

one thus far recognized in the Upper Cretaceous. It differs from the Eocene species in 

having camptodrome secondaries and in sending short branches into the marginal teeth, but 

. this feature is partly seen in Dillenites micro-

. dentatus, the type of the genus. · The present 

form is not uncommon in the Ripley. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Rip· 

ley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Family TERNSTROEMIACEAE 

Genus TERNSTROEJd:ITES Berry 

Temstroemites ripleyensi's Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XV, figures 3, 4; Plate XVI, :figur.e 1 

Leaves of variable size, lanceolate, ·with an 

extended and gradually narrowed acuminate 

tip and a cuneate base decurrent on the winged 

petiole. Length from 5 to 18 centimeters; 

maximum width, below the middle, from 1 to 

3 centimeters. Leaf substance thin. Margins 

regularly crenate except for a short distance 

proximad, where ·they are entire~ Teeth variable but uniform on single leaves, regularly 

spaced, either close set or ·remote. Petiole long, 

conspicuously winged, 2 centimeters long in a 

medium-seized specimen. Midrib s.tout, prominent. Secondaries thin, diverging from the 

midrib at· angles of about 70° at regular intervals and abruptly camptodrome in the marginal region, sending short branches to the 

.marginal teeth. Tertiaries obsolete. 

This is one of the commonest species in the 

Ripley, being represented by a large amount of 

n1aterial. Superficially it is much like the form 

known as Oelastrophyllum carolinensis, but it 

differs in the elongated winged petiole, the extended tip, and the less numerous and less ascending secondaries. It appears to be ancestral to the lower Eocene species Ternstroemites 

preclaibornensis Berry, of the Wilcox group, 

which is in turn ancestral to Ternstroemite.~ 

claibornensis Berry, of the Claiborne group. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Temstroemites tennesseensis Berry, n. sp. 

Pia te XVI, figure 3 

Leaves of medi urn size, e'Ili ptical-lanceolate, 

with a bluntly pointed apex and a similarly 

pointed cuneate base. Length 8 centimeters; 

maximum width, halfway between the ·apex 

and the base, 3.7 centimeters. Leaf substance 

thin. Margins regularly and somewhat 

coarsely crenate except proximad, where they 

are entire for about one-fourth their extent . 

Midrib stout, straight, and prominent on the 

lower surface. Secondaries thin; about 12 

pairs diverge from the midrib at wide angles, 

as n1uch as 60° in the median part of the leaf; 

they are approximately straight ·and parallel 

. at regular ·intervals and are joined by a 

camptodrome loop only about two-thirds of 

the distance to the margin. Tertiaries obsolete. 

This species is typical of the group of leaves 

which are so common in the Upper Cretaceous 

of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and which have 

heretofore been referred to Oelastrophyllum~ 
• 

Til Y:\IELEALES 75 

::1,lthough they are obviously not .Celastrarceae 

but appear to represent the Ternstroemiaceae. 

The present species shows points of resemblance to Oelas.trophyllum crena.tum Heer,97 

0. 'l.tnclulatum Ne·wberry, '~ and 0. g1·andijoliurn 

Newberry,09 without being identical with either. 

They range in age from the Tuscaloosa and 

Uaritan formations upward and are congeneric, 

showing marked contrasts with the other 

Coastal Plain species that have been referred 

to Oelast1'0JJ1hyll7.t/m. 

The type of" Te1·nstroemites represented by 

the foregoing species appears to have been 

waning during Ripley time, and the contrasted 

types represented by Tern8troe1nites ripleyensis 

and T. m·etaceus, equally old, appear to have 

furnished the stock of the lower and middle 

Eocene species in the embayment region. 

Occurrence: MrcN airy sand membei· of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Ternstroemites cretaceus Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XVI, figure 2 

Leaves of variable size, broadly lanceolate, 

with an acuminate tip and a narrowly cuneate 

base. Margins regularly but remotely serrate. 

Texture subcoriaceous. Length from 10 to 

17 centimeters; maximum width, in middle 

region, 1.5 to 3.25 centimeters. Petiole missing. :.Midrib stout, straight, prominent on tlu~ 

lower surface of the leaf. Secondaries thin, 

close-set, straight, and subparallel, diverging 

from the midrib at angles of about ·40°, inosculating or joined by percurrent tertiaries, 

their tips joined by abn~pt and flat campt(• 

drome loops, from which short. branches arc:! 

sent to the teeth. 

This well-marked species is readily . di~· 

tinguished from the other Ripley· species o:t 

Ternstroe1nites. It appears to be descended 

from Oelast1•ophyllu-1n demtrrens Lesquereux, 

of the Dakota sandstone and the Raritan and 

Tuscaloosa formations, and also to be related 

to Myrica hollicki Ward, of the Raritan formation, both of which are forms of Ternstroe'lnites and not related to Oelastrophyllum 

or Llfyrica. · It is ,probably ancestral to the 

07 Heer, Oswald, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 7,, p. 41, pl. 62, 

fig. 21, 1883. . 

os Newberry, J. S., U. S. Geol. Sur-vey Mon. 26, p. 102, pl. 

38, figs. 1-3, 1896. . 00 Idem, p. 104, pl. 19, flg. 8 ; pl. 21 figs. 1-4. 

lower Eocene T ernstromnites eoligniticus 

Berry, of the vVilcox group of the embayment 

region. 

Occurrence : MeN airy · sand 1nember of 

Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

and Cooper pit, near IIollow Rock, Carroll 

County, Tenn. · 

Order THYMELEALES 

Family LA URACEAE 

Genus CINNAMOMUM Blume 

Cinnamomum newberryi Berry 

Plate XVI, figure '5 

Oinnamomu·m newbe1-ryi Berry, Torrey Bot. Club 

Bull., vol. 38, p. 423, 1911; New Jersey Geol. 

Survey Dull. 3, p. 150, pl. 16, _fig. 3, 1911; 

U. S. Geol. Snrvey Prof. Paper 84, 'pp. 54, 117, 

pl. 9, figs. 12, 13 ; pl. 21, tigs. 9-11, 1914; 

Maryland Geol. Survey, Upper Cretaceous, p. 

860, pl. 71, fig. 6, 1916 ; U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 112, p. 118, pl. 21, figs. 6-9, 1919. 

Oinnanwmum sezannense Beer, Flora fossilis arctica, 

vol. 6, Abt. 2, p. 77, pl. 19, fig. 8; pl. . 33, figs. 

11, 12, 1882 [not \Vatelet] ; idem, vol. 7, p. 30 

'pl. 61, fig. la, 1883 [not Watelet]. 

· Lesquereux, The flora of the Dakota group: 

U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 17, p. 107, pl. 12, 

fig. 7, 1892 [not fig. 6, which is a leaf of 

G-innamomum. mentbranaceum, (Lesquereux) 

Hollie!~]. 

Dawson, Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., 1st ser., vol. 2, 

sec. 4, p. 64, pl. 13, 1ig. 58, 1894 [not ·watelet]. 

Hollick, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 21, p. 53, pl. 

180, figs. 5, 7, 1894 "[not \Vatelet]. 

Penhallow, Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., 2d ser., vol. 

8, sec. 4, p. 46, 1902 [not Watelet]. 

Hollick, New York State Mus. Fifty-fifth Ann. 

Rept. for 1901; .p. r50, 1903. 

Oinnamom1t,m intermedium Smith, On the geology of 

the Coastal Plain of Alabama, p. 348, 1894 

[nomen nudum]. 

Newberry, The flora of the Amboy clays: U. S. 

Geol. Survey Mon. 26, p. 89, pl. 29, figs. 1-8, 10, 

1896 [not EttingshausenJ. 

Berry, New Jersey State Geo~ogist Ann. Rept. for 

1905, p. 139, pl. 20, figs. 2-6, Hl06 [not Ettingshausen] ; Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 33, p. 179, 

pl. 7, figs. 3, 4, 1906 [not Ettingshausen]. 

Hollick, 'The Cretaceous flora of southern New 

York and New England: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Mon. 50, p. 74, pl. 29, fig. 7; pl. 30, figs. 1, 2, 

1907 [not Etting-shausen]. 

Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 37, p. 27, 1910 

[not Ettingshausen]. 

Leaves subcoriaceous, lanceolate to ovatelanceolate, varying greatly in size and consequently in appearance. Apex short, pointed, or 

more or less na1~row ly extended. Base broad, 
• 

76 . THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

narrowed to the petiole. Primaries three, usually suprabasilar. This species is primarily 

distinguished from Oinnamomum heerii 

Lesquereux by its ·relatively narrower form 

and acute base. The Georgia material is not 

scanty but is for the most part extremely 

fragmentary. The single complete leaf is of 

the short type like that shown in Newberry's 

figure 10/ or like the leaves· from the· Arctic 

and from the Dakota sandstone which have 

usually been referred to Oinna1n01num sezannense W atelet. That they are not in the slightest degree related to this European basal 

Eocene type may be readily seen by a comparison of the Amm~ican Cretaceous material with 

the figures of the true Oinnamomu1n sezannense as given by W atelet, Sa porta, and 

others. 2 

The present species, as he.re revised according to the foregoing citations, has a remarkable range in the Upper Cretaceous. The 

Raritan formation of New Jersey is the oldest 

formation in which it has been found. Above 

the Raritan horizon it occurs in the Atane and 

Patoot beds of Greenland, in the Magothy 

formation from Long Island to Mary land, in 

the Black Creek formation of North Carolina, 

in the Middendorf arkose member of the Black 

Creek of South Carolina, in the Tuscaloosa 

formation of Alabama, where it is especia1ly 

abundant at certain localities, and in the Dakota sandstone of l{ansas .. It appears to be 

present in the Upper Cretaceous of the Pacific 

· coast on Vancouver Island and is probably 

represented in the Texas remains of Oinnamomum recorded by l{nowlton 3 from the 

Woodbine sand in Cooke County, Tex. It has 

also been recorded from the Eutaw formation 

in the Chattahoochee drainage basin in Georgia. Although not known from Europe, the 

forms from the Cenomanian of Bohemia which 

Velenovsky describes as Aralia daphnophyllum are very similar to this American species. 

It must be obvious to any rational botanist 

that this great range in time can scarcely rep1 Newberry, .J. S., The flora of the Amboy clays: U. S. 

Geol. Survey Mon. 26, pl. 29, fig. to, 1896. 2 Watelet, A., Description des plantes fossiles du bassin de 

Paris, pl. 50, fig. 2, 1866. Sa.porta, Gaston de, Flore fosslle 

de Sezanne, p·l. 8, fig. 5,, 1865; Vegetation a. l'epoque des 

marnes heers,iennes de Gelinden, pl. 6, figs·. 5, 6, 1873 ; Revision de la fiore heersienne de Gelinden, pl. 9, figs. 2-6. 

1878. Friedrich, P. A., Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Tertiarflora der Provinz Sachsen, pL 1, fig. 5, 1863. 3 Hill, R. T., U. S. Geol. Survey Twenty-first Ann. Rept., 

pt. 7, p. 317, 1901. . 

resent a single botanic species.· I regard this 

statement as se.If-evident, ·and yet I can discern no criteria except stratigraphic for specific segregation. Olnnam01nu1n leaves are notoriously variable both in the existing and in 

extinct floras, and the sa.me unsurmountable 

difficulties are presented by a number of rertiary species, so called .. I have studied a great 

many specimens of Ci-nnamomum newberryi 

f'rom earlier horizons and can not see in the 

Ripley leaves which I refer to this species any 

features that will differentiate them from the 

abundant remains in the much older Raritan 

and Tuscaloosa formations. In themselves 

they are characteristic enough, as the. accompanying figure shows, and are not readily confused with other CretaceOtts or with Eocene 

species of Oinnamomu1n. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, 21f2 miles south of Mifflin, Chester County, and a quarter of a mile west. of 

Buena Vista, Carroll County, Tenn. 

Cinnamomum newberryi lanceolatum Berry, n. var. 

Plate XVI, figure 4 

Small slender leaves, lanceolate, widest below the middle and tapering upward to the 

extended acuminate tip. Base nar:row, slightly 

decurrent. Texture subcoriaceous. Margins 

strictly entire. Length about 4 centimeters; 

maximum width about 8 millimeters. Petiole 

stout, 3 millimeters in length. Midrib stout, 

prominent. Lateral primaries stout, diverging 

at acute angles from the base of the midrib, 

somewhat thinner than the midrib, ascending 

near the n1argins two-thirds of the distance to 

the tip, where they join the basal of two or 

three pairs of short camptodrome secondaries 

that are developed in that region of the leaf. 

N ervilles thin, percurrent. 

This variety is probably merely a small narrow, perhaps juvenile leaf of the associated 

larger-leafed species, the suppression of camptodrome secondaries from the outer sides of the 

lateral' primaries being conditioned by the narrowing of the leaf. It is sufficiently distinct in 

appearance to merit a name, and it rests with 

the future to verify or disprove this assumption. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 
THYMELEALES 77 

Cinnamomum newberryi minimum Berry, n. var. i meters; maximum width frmn 4 to 6.5 centiPlate XVI, figure 6 

Leaves small, ovate, widest in the basal half 

of the leaf and tapering upward to the acute 

tip. Base broadly rounded. Length about 3.5 

centimeters; maximum width about 1..2 centimeters. Petiole stout, 6.5 millimeters in length. 

Primaries three, from top of the petiole. In 

general form and venation an exact miniature· 

of Oinnamomum newberryi, except that the 

lateral primary on one side is craspedodrome, 

terminating in a well-marked and relatively 

prominent serrate tooth. Otherwise the ~argi ns are en tire. 

This variety is probably only a reduced and 

perhaps 'abnormal leaf of the contemporaneous 

forn1 identified as Oinna11Wmum newberryi. 

The fact that only a single specimen is known 

makes this supposi~ion still more probable. 

Occurrence: J\1cN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Cinnamomum newberryi ellitpticum. Berry, n. var. 

Plate XVI, figure 7 

A relatively shorter and more robust form 

of leaf than is typical in Oinnamomum newberryi but not greatly different from many 

'.fonns th'at have been referred to that species. 

The fact that in the specimen here figured 

there were two apparently opi,lOsite .leaves at 

the apex of an abortive twig may indicate that 

the leaves are merely somewhat abnormal 

leaves of the type. Length about 7.5 centimeters; maximum width about 3.25 centimeters. Petiole stout, curved, 1.3 centimeters 

in length. Primaries stout, three, slightly 

suprabasilar. Secondary venation typical ·of 

Oinn.anwmum. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll. Conn ty, Tenn. 

Cinnamomum praespectabHe Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XVII, figures 4, 5 

Medium to large coarse leaves, obovate, 

widest above the middle, narrowing gradually 

proximad to the sharply cuneate base · and 

narrowing abruptly distad to the extended 

apiculate tip. Length from 8. to 13 centimeters. Petiole stout, 1.25 to 2 centimeters in 

length. Midrib stout, prominent on under 

side of leaf. .Lateral primaries suprabasil'ar, 

diverging from the midrib at angles of about 

25° to 30°, stout and prominent below but becoming thin distad, parallel with the leaf margins. There are two or three pairs of camptodrome secondaries in the distal half of the le'af 

and two or three sweepingly curved camptodrome secondaries from the outer sides of the 

primaries. Tertiaries very thin, typical of the 

genus, running transversely from midrib to 

lateral primaries and usually inosculating midway between the two. Texture coriaceous. 

This species in its size, general outline, 

coriaceous texture, and coarse suprabasilar 

primaries is exceedingly close to the European 

Tertiary spedes Oinnamomum spectabile 

Heer,4 a form that has been recorded from a 

large number of European localities ranging 

in age from Oligocene to Pliocene and recorded by Knowlton 5 from the early basic 

breccias of Fort Union age in Yellowstone 

Park. Another similar form, somewhat smaller 

in size and more delicate in texture, is Oinnamomum buchii Heer,6 a widespread Eocene to Pliocene form in Europe and recorded 

from the Wilcox Eocene of Louisiana. 7 It is 

difficult to appreciate the differences that have 

led European students to separate the two 

species just mentioned, for they appear to intergrade. Moreover, it is an unsettled question to what extent the normally lanceolate. or 

ovate-lanceolate Cinnamomums assume this 

a piculate form in their broader leaves. Certainly among the leaves of the existing Oinna-

'lnom1£m camphor a N ees and Ebermaier the 

broader leaves tend to be apiculate and approach the fossil species enumerated above, although the narro,ver leaves are ovate-lanceolate and quite different in general appearance .. 

Amid the abundant materials referred to 

Oinnamomum ·from this and earlier Upper 

Cretaceous horizons none are at all closely 

similar to the present species. The relation of 

'Heer, Oswald, Flora tertiaria Helvetiae, vol. 2, p. 91, pl. 

96, figs. 1-8, 1856. 6 Knowlton, F. H., U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 32, p-. 72.7, pl. 

94, fig. 6, 1899. 

a Op. ci.t., p. 90, pl. 9·.'5, figs. 1-8. 7 Berry, E. W .. U. S. · Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, p. 299, 

pl. 79, fig. 10,. 1916. 
78 THE FLORA OF T'HE RIPLEY FORMATION 

this species to the Eocene forms from American 

rocks that have been referred to either Oinnamomum b1.whii or Oinnamomum ·spectabile 

is close. The name chosen is intended to suggest that· it stood in an ancestral relationship, 

and I am inclined to think that the two American Eocene forms above mentioned are not only 

identical but distinct from the essentially later 

European types of tl~ose species. A recent 

species that is similar to all of these is Oin-

. namom1lm glanduliferum Meissner. 

OccuiTence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock. 

Carroll County, Tenn. · 

Genus NECTANDRA Roland 

N ectandra prolifica Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XVII, figures l-3 

Genus MALAPOENNA Nees· 

Malapoenna horrellensis Berry 

Malapoe·nna ho1·1·ellensis Berry, Torrey Bot. Club 

Bull., vol. 37, p. 198, pl. 24, figs. 1-9, 1910 ; idem, 

vol. 43, p. 299, 1916. 

I described this species in 1910 as follows: 

Leaves ovate-lanceolate, about 8 ·centimeters long 

by 2.5 centimeters in greatest. width; broadest at the 

evenly rounded or slightly acute base, narrowing 

gradually upward, the apex narrow and extended 

but obtusely pointed. Leaf substance thin but persistent, evidently coriaceous in life, since these leaves 

occur abundantly at a locality where all the veget~ble remains except the resistant ATa1waria, Ounnmghamites, and Pistia were evidently thoroughly 

macerated before entombment. Secondaries four to 

si.x pairs, subopposite, curved upward, camptodrome, 

branching from the midrib at an acute angle, the 

lowest ·pair branching from the top of the petiole 

and extending upward halfway to the apex or farther 

giving the leaf a triple-veined appearance. Perhap~ they should' be· termed lateral primaries, although 

they are much finer than the medium-stout midrib. 

The next pair of secondaries branch at a less acute 

angle a considerable distance above the base, onethird to one-half the distance to the apex. Tertiary 

venation typicaHy lauraceous. 

Lanceolate, mostly falcate leaves of variable 

size and coriaceous texture, widest below the · 

middle, tapering upward to an · extended 

acuminate tip and downward to a narrowly 

cuneate or slightly decurrent base. Margins 

entire, often somewhat undulate. Length from 

8 to 12 centimeters; maximum width from 7 This species is markedly distinct from the 

t~ 14 millimeters. Petiole stout, about 1 centi- species of lauraceous le;:tves hitherto· described 

meter in length. 1\iidrib stout, prominent, in its rounded base, the only genus of this 

usually curved. Secondaries relatively stout, family with such a character being Oinnamowell marked, irregularly and rather remotely mum. The present species is possibly liable 

spaced, diverging from the midrib at angles of to be confused with Oinnamo1num heeri Lesabout 45° and in general ascending in sweep- quereux when. only the basal part of the leaf 

ing camptodrome arches; some of them diverO'- is found, but the general proportions and charing at more open angles and pursuino· e.a acters of the whole leaf are perfectly distinct.-

straighter course, particularly in the u;per It was described from several localities ·in 

part of the leaf. Tertiaries. thin, formin<Y a the upper part of the Black ·creek formation 

.typical.lauraceous areolation. o of North Carolina and is represented in the 

. ·This species is exceedingly abundant at the ~ollecti?ns from the ba~al part of the Eutaw 

Carroll County plant locality and constitutes· a I formati0~1 of_ Alabama In Hale County. It is. 

well-marked el~me~t in th~ Ripley flora, which ~~ also present I~· the basal beds of the Entaw in 

when the venatwn IS considered is readily dis- western Georgia: 

tinguishable. The general form is however Occurrence: Eutaw formation, Havana ..... ' 'H ' that of a nmnber of unrelated· genera, and in . .ale County,· Ala.; Broken Arrow Bend, 

the absence of venation it might readily be Chattahoochee. County, Ga. 1\icN airy sand 

confused with Myrcia, .Salix, or Apocynophyl- member, of Ripley ~ormation, Big Cut, near 

lun~. For example, the present species has the Cypre~s, and 2~~2 miles southwest of Selmer, 

identical form of the Eutaw and Ripley species 1\icNairy County, Tenn. 

Myrcia havanensis. Berry 8 or of the Raritan 

species Sal-ix inaequalis Newberry. 9 

8 Berry, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 112 .. p. 125, 

pl. 11, fig. 4; pl. 28, fig. 7, 1919. 0 Newberry, J. S., The flora of the Amboy clays: U. s. 

Geol. Survey Mon. -26, p. 67, pl. 17, figs. 2-7, 1896. 

Genus LAURUS Linne 

Laurus atanensis Berry 

Laurus atanensis Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 

38, p. 420, 1911 ; U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 84, p. 53, pl. 13, fig. 7, 1914. 
THYMELEA~ES 79 

La·unts nngusta, 1-Ieer, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 7, 

pt. 2, p. 76, pl. 20, figs. 1b, 7; pl. 43, fig. 1c, 1882; 

vol. 7, p. 30, pl. 57, fig. 1b, 1883 [not Rafinesque]. 

I,esquereux:, Flora of the Dakota group : U. S. 

Geol. Survey Mon. 17, p. 93, pl. 16, fig. 7, 1892. 

Hollick, New York Bot. Garden Bull., vol. 3, p. 

408, pl. 70, figs. 10, 11, 1904 ; U. S. Geol. Survey 

Mon. 50, p. 81, pl. 27, figs. ·u, 12, 1907. 

Leaves entire, linear,..lanceolate, tapering 

· about equally to the ·acuminate apex and base. 

Length 12 centimeters or less, some of Heer's 

Greenland material consi.derably under this dimension; width about 1.5 centimeters, although 

some specimens reach 2 centimeters. Midrib 

relatively thin. Secondaries thin, somewhat 

widely separated, branching from the midrib 

at ·acute angles ( 45° or le~s), nine to twelve alternate pairs, finally ascending along the margin, camptodrome. Tertiaries forminO' the b 

characteristic areolat_ion of the genus. 

I-Ieer originally compared this species with 

Laur~ts pl~ttonia, pointing out that it was 

more linear and acuminate. ·He also remarks 

that it is somewhat smaller, but this O'eneral~ • • b 

1zation has been found not to hold O'Ood even b ' for the Greenland material, and is especially 

not true of the forms from the Middendorf 

arkose member of the Black Creek formation 

jn South Carolina. and those from the Ripley 

of Tennessee. The primaries are sparser and 

more ascending than in Laurus plutonia, and 

the more linear form gives the leaf a decidedly 

different aspect. There can be no doubt that 

the two are. perfectly distinct species, naturally possessing certain lauraceous characters 

in common. Laurus .plutonia did not persist 

in the Upper Cretaceous as late as Laurus 

atanensis. 

La~trus atanensis was described .from specimens found in the Atane beds of Greenland 

and was subsequently recorded from · the 

Patoot beds. Lesquereux identified it in material from the Dakota sandstone of l{ansas. 

although this record was based upon extremely 

doubtful material, and Hollick has recorded 

it from the clays of Northport, Lono- Island 

h

. 0 . ' 

w ICh are probably of Magothy age. Characteristic material was described by me from 

the Middendorf arkose member of the Black 

Creek formation in South Carolina, and iden·· 

tical remains occur in considerable abundance 

in the Ripley formation in Henry and Carroll 

counties, Tenn. Some of the specimens from 

the Cooper pit are considerably wider than the 

average but are otherwise· identical. 

The species is not found in the Magothy 

formation of New Jersey or ~1aryland nor in 

the· Tuscaloosa formation of Alabmna, and as 

the occurrences cited from Lesquereux and 

Hollick are both based upon questionable evidence it may be regarded as a form more 

diagnostic of the horizon of the Patoot beds 

of Greenland and the Ripley of the Atlantic 

Coastal Plain. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

and Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, Carroll 

County, Tenn. 

Laurus asiminoides Berry, n. sp~ 

Plate XVIII, figures 1, 2• 

A.simina eocenicaf Kn<;>wlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 

163, p. 57, pl. 14, fig. 3, 1900 [not Lesquereux, 

1878]. . ~ 

Leaves broadly lanceolate, relatively small· 

with a similarly acuminate apex and base: 

reg~llarly rounded entire margins, and subconaceous texture. Length 7.5 to 8 centimeters; maxiinum width, n1idway betw·een th2 

apex and the base, 2:1 to 2.5 centimeters. 

Petiole stout, curved, 1 centimeter in len oth. 

Midrib stout. Secondaries stout, six or s:Ven 

J>airs, diverging from the midrib at acute angles and sweeping upward in lonO', slio·htly ir- o b • 

·egular curves, eventually camptodrome. Tertiaries thhi', forming open n1eshes. . 

The earliest known specimen of this species 

comprised . a single leaf from the Montana 

group of vVyoming which l{nowlton identified 

with some doubt as Asi?nina eocenica Lesquereux.10 In describing the supposed Midway 

Eocene plants from Texas in 1916 I pointe,i 

out 11 that the ~1ontana group leaf ·was dis·· 

tinct from Lesquereux's type of material from 

the Denver formation and Black Buttes, vVyo., 

both of which are now considered by l{nowlton of Eocene age. Leaves sinl.ilar to the one 

describ~d by l{now It on are sparingly represented In the Ripley formation of Tennessee. 

and substantiate this conclusion. ]'hey have 

all the characters of the Lauraceae and are 

uniformly smaller · than those of Asimina 

10 !.esqucn:ux. Leo, Tertiary· flora, p. 251, p. 43. figs ·.3-8 

1878. . ' . ' 

11 Berry, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91 p 14 

1916. . ' . • 
80 THE FLORA. OF. THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

eocenica Lesquereux, with fewer and much 

more ascending secondaries, shorter petioles, 

and less stout midribs. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Laurus ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XVIII, figure 3 

Leaves relatively small, ovate, widest in the 

middle and narrowing distad to a bluntly 

pointed tip, remaining full proximad and narrowing rapidly to an acuminate base. Mar·· 

. gins entire. Texture subcoriaceous. · Petiole 

fairly long and very stout, 1.25 centimeters in 

length. Midrib stout and usually curved, 

prominent on the under side of the leaf. Secondaries g(;out, camptodrome, about seven 

pairs, those in the basal half of the leaf ascending subparallel with the lower lateral 

margins. Upper four pairs diverging from 

. the midrib at conspicuously wider angles, 

rather straight in their courses, conspicuously 

camptodrome by a single large loop some distance within the margins. Tertiaries typically 

lauraceous, prominently seen only on impressions showing the lower surface of the leaf. 

Length about 8 centimeters; maximum width 

about 2.2 centimeters. 

This well-n1arked Rpecies, which is suggestive of our existing species of Persea of the 

southeastern United States, was apparently 

not common in the Ripley-at lease-it is a rare 

form in the collections. It is readily differentiated from the numerous Upper Cretaceous 

species of Laurtts by its general ovate form 

and blunt tip. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member .of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. · 

Laurus coloradensis Knowlton 

Lau1·us coloradensis Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 98, p. 340, pl. 88, fig. 4 [not fig. 5]. 

1916 ; Prof. Paper 101, p. 268, pl. 45, fig. 3, 

1917. 

This species was described as follows by 

l{nowlton in 191'7: 

Leaf na;rowly Ianceolate, tapering in about equal 

degree to both base and apex·; petiole short ( ?) , 

thick; midrib relatively very thick below but becoming very thin above; secondaries numerous, a dozen 

or more pairs, subopposite, much curved upward, 

camptodrome, arching near the margin and each 

joining the next above by a series of loops; intermediate secondaries frequent; usually joining the secondary next below; secondaries strong, oblique to the 

secondaries ; finer nervation not preserved. 

The leaf here figured as the type of this spec~es is 

narrowly lanceolate in shape, being. about 11 centimeters in length and 2.5 centimeters in width ; the 

petiole is preserved for a length of 0.5 centimeter but 

probably is not complete. 

In the matter of nervation the present species approaches very closely to Laurus prilmigenia Unger, as 

figured by Lesquereux,IZ but it differs from this in 

size and to some extent in shape, being much larger 

and narrower, especially at the base. Its thick 

petiole and thick basal portion of the midrib constitute other minor differences. 

It is not common in the Ripley but is a ch1aracteristic form in the Vermejo formation in 

Colorado and the Fruitland formation in 

northwestern New Mexico and is probably 

present at Point of Rocks, Wyo., as l{nowlton 

has pointed out. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Rip· 

ley formation, Perry place, Henry CountJ, 

Tenn. 

Genus· LA UROPHYLL UM Goeppert 

Laurophyllum ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XVIII, figures 4-8 

Laurus coloradensis Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 98, pl. 88, fig. 5, 1916 [not fig. 4]. 

Elongate-lanceolate and generally falcate 

leaves of variable size and proportions. Tip 

generally much extended and acuminate. Base 

gradually narrowed, acuminate-cuneate, or decurrent. Margins entire. Texture coriaceous. 

Petiole very stout, curved, thickening proximad, 7. centimeters long in the smallest leaf, 1.5 

centimeter~ in the la.rges~. Midrib very stout, 

usually curved, prominent on the lower surface of the leaf. Secondaries numerous, thin, 

diverging at wide angles and camptodrome, obsolete by immersion in the thick leaf substance 

in most specimens. Tertiaries obsolete. The 

smallest perfect leaf in the collection is 4.5 

centimeters long by 1.25 centimeters in maximum width; the largest is 12 by 3 centimeters, 

the region of maximum width being about midway between the apex and base. A great many 

leaves are somewhat more slender than these, 

12 Lesquereux,. Leo, The 'l'ertiary flora: U. S. Geol. Survey 

'!'err. Rept., vol. 7, pl. 36, fig. 6, 18i8. 
MYRTALES 81 

and an average would perhaps be 10 centimeters in length and 2 centimeters in maximum 

width. 

The present characteristic and exceedingly 

abundant species belongs to a type of leaf 

which is abundant throughout most .of the Upper Cretaceous deposits of the world and is 

commonly referred to the genus Laurophyllum, 

which will serve the present purpose. The details of venation that would settle its reference 

to the Lauraceae can not be made out; consequently its true generic relations ~n the family 

can not be determined, although it shows a 

great similarity to the lower Eocene leaves 

from this same region which I have referred to 

the genus N ectandra. 

One of the figured specimens fr01n the Fruitland formation of San Juan County, N.Mex.~ 

described by J(nowlton appears to be identical 

with this species and to differ from the other 

specimens from that formation and from the 

type of Lau1·u,s coloradensis, which came from 

the Vermejo formation. 13 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County 

(very common) ; Cooper pit, near Hollow 

Rock, Carroll County (rare), Tenn. 

Order MYRTALES 

Family MYRTACEAE 

Genus MYRCIA De Candolle 

Myrcia ha vanensis Berry 

Plate XIX, figure 9 

Myrcia hava.nensis Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 

43, p. 300, 1916; U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

112, p. 125, pl. 11, fig. 4; pl. 28, fig. 7, 1919. 

E1wal1Jptus attenuata Ward [not Newberry], U. S. 

Geol. Surv~y Fifteenth Ann. Rept., p. 371, 1895. 

Leaves linear-lanceolate, falcate, about 9 centimeters in length by 1 centime,ter in maximum 

width, which is in the lower half of the leaf. 

J\1argins entire. Apex gradually narrowed, 

acuminate. Base narrowly pointed, decurrent. 

Petiole very stout, tapering upward, 1.75 centimeters in length. Midrib stout, curved. Secondaries numerous, thin, somewhat irregularly 

spaced, 2 to 6 millimeters apart, branching_ 

from the midrib at angles of about 40°, running with but slight curvature to the wellmarked and nearly straight longitudinal vein, 

1s Knowlton, F. H., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 101, 

p. 268, pl. 45, fig. 3, 1917. 

which forms a marginal hem less than 0.5 

millimeter from the margin. Texture coriaceous. 

The present species is very close to some of 

the numerous forms which from time to time 

have been referred to Eucalypt'i.t8 geinitzi 

( Heer) Heer. It is, however, distinct from 

that species, especially when compared with 

Heer's type or with the more typical 

American material. In general it is a smaller 

.leaf, has a larger ·and longer petiole and an 

outline less inclined toward ovate, and is relatively much more produced apically. It .is 

typically /./ yrcia-like in all its characters and 

is readily distinguishable from the forms from 

the Tuscaloosa formation which have been referred to Eucalyptus geinitzi. It is confined 

to the basal beds of the Eutaw formation in 

IIale County, Ala., and the Ripley formation 

in western Tennessee, and takes its name from 

the town of Havana Ala., near which the leafbearing laminated clays of the Eutaw formation crop out. A single specimen collected by 

R. T. Hill in 1891 at the big cut on the Southern Railway east of Pocahontas, Tenn., and 

identified by Ward as Eucalyptus attenuata 

Newberry proves to belong to this species. 

Occurrence: Eutaw :formation (basal beds), 

2 miles south of Havana, Hale County, Ala. 

(MeN airy sand member), o:f Ripley :formation 

Camden-Paris road, 13 miles northwest of 

Camden, Henry County; big cut ll/2 miles 

west of Cypress, 21j2 m!les southwest of 

Selmer, MeN airy County ; Cooper pit, near 

Hollow Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. 

Myrcia dubia Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XIX, figure 3 

A tiny elongate-lanceolate leaf, widest below 

the middle and tapering upward to the acuminate tip and decurrent to the petiole. Margins 

entire. Texture coriaceous. Length about 3 

centimeters; maximum width about. 4 millimeters. Petiole expanded, about 7 millimeters 

in length. Midrib relatively very stout, expanding proximad. Stout aerodrome veins 

follow each margin, and ascending secondaries 

connect these with the midrib. 

This form may represent a juvenile leaf, as 

it is represented in the collections by only t"Vo 

specimens, but its extremely coriaceous texture 

rather suggests that it represents a small-
82 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

leafed species of 111 yrcia, as the venation is 

characteristic of that genus. It resembles 

somewhat the lower Eocene . (Wilcox group) 

species My1•cia grenadensis Berry.14 

Occurrence: J\fcN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow 

Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. 

Genus EUGENIA Linne 

Eugenia? anceps Berry 

Plate XIX, figure 6 

FJugeniaf anoeps Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 

43, p. 301, pl. 16, figs. 2-4, 1916; U. S. Geol. 

Survey Prof. Paper 112, p. 125, pl. 32, figs. 

3-5, 1919. 

Coriaceous leaves of variable size and form, 

lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate. Apex and 

base equally acuminate, or the apex somewhat 

more attenuated. Margins entire. Length 

7.75 to 10 centimeters; ·maximum width, midway between the apex and the base, 11 to 18 

millimeters. Petiole enlarged, short and stout, 

3 to 4 millimeters in length. Midrib stout. 

Secondaries thin, immersed in the leaf substance. 

This species is referred to Ettgenia with considerable hesitation. The material is abundant but poorly preserved, and these leaves 

resemble a variety o"f forms referred to such 

genera as Salix and Laurophyllum. 

E_ugenia has furnished a species in the Tuscaloosa formation of Alabama and another in 

the Dakota sandstone of the weStern United 

States, and it is not uncommon in the Eocf-ne 

of the Mississippi embayment region. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand . member of 

Ripley formation, 2lj2 miles southwest of 

Selmer, MeN airy County; Cooper pit, near 

I-Iollow Rock, Carroll County, Terin. 

Genus MYRTOPHYLLUM Heer 

Myrtophyllum angustum (Velenovsky) Berr)r, n. comb. 

Plate XIX, figure 1 

Eucalyptus ang·usta Velenovsky, Die Flora der bohmischen Kreideformation, vol. 4, p. 3, pl. 3, figs. 

2-12, 1885. 

Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 36, .P· 260, pl. 

18, fig. 5, 1909; idem, vol. 37, p. 504, 1910; U. S. 

Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 84, pp. 55, 119, pl. 14, 

fig. 2; pl. 20, figs. 2-4, 1914; New J"ersey Geol. 

Survey Bull. 3, p. 193, pl. 28, figs. 1-4, 1911. 

1' Berry, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, p., 316, 

pl. 91, fig. 3, 19·16. 

Leaves linear, with acuminate tip, narrowly 

cuneate base, prominent midrib, fine and closeset thin ascending secondaries, .and marginal 

vein. Texture, coriaceous. 

·This so-called species was instituted by 

v elenovsky and based upon material from the 

Perucer beds of Bohemia, and despite the fact 

that this author describes supposed fruits in 

connection with it, I have transferred it from 

Eucalyptus to M yrtophyllum, for there are 

conclusive general reasons, which I have set 

forth in another connection,I5 for doubting its· 

reference to Eucalyptus. 

There is also grave doubt as to whether the 

references cited above all refer to the same 

species. The Bohemian material shows a wide 

range in size and is made to include leaves 

which in this country are commonly referred 

to Eucalyptus geninitzi Heer, a second wideranging and probably composite species. 

Whatever may be the opinion as to the specific identity between the European and American forms, there is not the slightest doubt that 

the forms from the Black Creek, Eutaw, and 

·Ripley formations are identical and represent 

a single species of J\fyrtaceae. These occur in 

the Black Creek formation of South Carolina 

and the Eutaw and Ripley formations of 

Georgia and are exceedingly common in the 

Ripley formation of western Tennessee. The 

characteristic venation of this species, which 

may be compared with Eocene and existing 

American species of M yrcia, is not shown in 

the specimen figured but is well illustrated in 

Professional Paper 84 (Pl. XIV, fig. 2; Pl. II, 

figs. 2-4). 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Pe.rry place, Henry County ; 

Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, and a quarter 

of a mile west of Buena Vista, Carroll County; · 

2lj2 miles south of Mi:fflin, Chester County, 

Tenn. Cusseta sand 1nember of Ripley formation, Buena Vista, Ga. · Eutaw formation, 

McBrides Ford, Columbus, Ga. 

Order UMBELLALES 

Family ARALIACEAE 

_Genus ARALIA Linne 

Aralia wellingtoniana minor Berry, n. var. 

Plate XIX, figures 4, 5; Plate XXIII, figures 4·, 5 

Leaves relatively small, palmately threelobed. Lobes acutely pointed, elongate, coni1s Berry, E. W., Bot. Gaz., vol. 59, pp. 484-490, 1915 ; Science, new ser., vol. 49. pp·. 91-92, 1919. 
UMBELLALES. 83 

cal or sometimes slightly inflated, divided by 

open rounded sinuses more than three-fourths 

of the distance to the base. Base rounded or 

broadly cuneate. Margins remotely serrate. 

Texture subcoriaceous. Length about 9 centimeters; maximum width, from tip to tip of 

lateral lobes, about 11 centimeters. Petiole 

short and stout. Midrib stout, slightly flexuous, prominent on the lower surface of the 

leaf. Lateral primaries suprabasilar, stout, 

prominent, diverging from midrib at angles .of 

about 35 ° and curving outward. Secondanes 

thin numerous, relatively straight, running to 

' . 1 a marginal hem, especially pronounced In t 1e 

reo·ion of the sinuses. Short branches· fron1 

th: marginals enter the teeth. Tertiaries thin, 

mostly transverse to secondaries, forming a 

roughly quadrangular areolation. 

This va.riety suggests the common Upper 

Cretaceous Aralia 1vellingtoniana Lesquereux 

in appearance but is clearly distinct. !t is 

based upon three specimens from the R1pl~y 

formation which indicate a leaf not over half 

the size of the normal A. wellingtoniana. It 

lacks the decurrent base, a n1arked feature of 

that species, has more spreading and les~ ~nflated and more conical lobes, more aqu1hne 

teeth, straighter and less ascending secondaries more open sinuses and the well-developed 

mar~inal hem, especially in the region of ~i-:­ nuse~, which is not developed in A. 'wellingtoniana.. 

A 1·alia wellingtoniana is· a characteristic 

species of the Dakota sandstone and the Woodbine and Raritan formations and is hence an 

older form than this variety. There has been 

some confusion in the past regarding its 

limits, as Lesquereux grouped under it certain 

five-lobed leaves belonging to his Aralia saportana.10 

There is some resemblance between the Ripley form and Aralia cottondalensis, of the 

Tuscaloosa formation of Alabama. The latter 

has much shorter and more conical lobesj 

broadly rounded base, and crenate marginal 

teeth. This variety also shows a similQ,rity to 

A 1·alia decurrens V elenovsky, a Cenomanian 

species from Bohemia. 

The description of the present fonn as n. 

variety of Aralia 1oellingtoniana naturally implies affiliation with the earlier records of that 

species in the same general region. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

'Tenn. 

Aralia problematica Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XX, figures 1, 2 

Fragmentary remains present in considerable abundance and indicative of a palmately 

lobed or divided leaf of considerable size. The 

fragments, which range in length from 10 to 

12 centimeters and in width from 2 to 4 centimeters, are inequilateral and have the margir.s 

irregularly and remotely sublobate. The texture is coriaceous, and the midvein is extremely stout, prominent,. and longitudinally 

wrinkled. The secondary veins are stout and 

prominent, they diverge from the midvein at 

wide angles and irrugular intervals, and most 

of them run ·straight· to a conspicuous marginal vein that follows all the irregularities 

of the margin. The tertiaries are prominent, 

straight, and largely percurrent. The are1· 

lation is coarse and prevailingly quadrangular. 

.This species, obviously new, is unfortu·nately 

represented by fragments, so that its characters 

can not be fully determined. The mater~al 

suggests a palmately lobate leaf, such as Aralia 

iJnultifida Saporta 17 or Aralia dissecta Lesquereux.18 but it may have been pedately. divided, 

as one fragment that appears to be identical 

with the others has a petiole several millimeters 

in length. Both the irregular form and venation 

suggest certain existing leaves of the genus J atropha of the family Euphorbiaceae, and it is 

of interest that Aralia multifida referred to 

above was described in the first instance as J atropha pri1naeva by Saporta. On the other 

hand, the fragments may sjmply be those of an 

irregular simple leaf, in which case I would 

compare them with the genus Dalechampia 

Linne, a genus of the Euphorbiaceae not recorded in the fossil state but with about 60 

existing species in the Tropics of both hemisph"eres. 

I have referred the present species to Aralia 

more as a matter of convenience rather than 

from a conviction that it represents a Ripley 

17 Sapo.t1:a, Gaston d.e, Etudes sur Ia vegetation du sud-est 

de la France A. l'~poque tertiaire, vol. 1, p. 115, pl. 12, fig. 1, 

1863. 

10 See Berry,. E. w., To.rrey Bot. Club Bull., vol~ 39, p. 402, 1 18 Lesquereux. Leo, Cretaceous and Tertiary floras, p. 176, 

1912. pi. 35, 1863. 
84 THE FLORA OF T'HE RIPLEY FORMATION 

form of Araliaceae, as the material is too incomplete to serve for a new genus and Aralia 

as used by paleobotanists is sufficiently broad to 

include it. My own preference would be to 

refer it to the family Euphorbiaceae, but this 

conclusion as well as a more corp.plete description must await the discovery of better material. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, and 

Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, Carroll County, 

Tenn. 

Family CORNACEAE1 

Genus CORNOPHYLLUM Newberry 

Cornophyllum minimum Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XIX, figure 2 

Leaves small, elliptical, widest in the middle, 

bluntly pointed 'and slightly decurrent to the 

long petiole. Margins entire, evenly rounded, 

and symmetrical. Leaf substance thin, chartaceous. Length about 2.5 centimeters; maximum width about 1.25 centimeters. Petiole 

long and stout, curved, about 11 millimeters in 

length. Midrib stout. Secondaries thin ; 

about five pairs diverge from the midrib at 

acute angles, ascend subparallel with the lower 

l'ateral margins, and are eventually camptodrome. Tertiaries where seen are percurrent. 

This is a not abundant form of uncertain relationship, referred to Oornophyllum 

from its resemblance in both form and ascending secondaries to the larger leaves commonly 

referred to that genus. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Series GAMOPETALAE 

Order ERICALES 1 

Family ERICACEAE 1 

Genus ANDROMEDA Linne 

Andromeda anceps Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XX, figure 3 

Lanceolate leaves of rather large size, with 

acute tip and base, widest below the middle and 

slightly more tapering distad than proximad. 

Margins entire, evenly rounded. Texture subcoriaceous. Length about 18.5 centimeters; 

maximum width about 4.25 centimeters. 

Petiole missing, presumably very stout.. Midrib stout, prominent. Secondaries thin, about 

ten subopposite to alternate camptodrome 

pairs; those in the lower part of the leaf diverge from the midrib at actute angles and 

ascend in sweeping curves parallel to lower 

lateral leaf n1argins; the secondaries gradually 

become shorter and less ascending in the middie and upper part of the leaf. Tertiaries 

thin but well marked; below they are long~ 

subparallel to secondaries, with which they 

inosculate at acute angles; above they form 

polygonal meshes, acute in the axis of direction of the secondaries, forming the characteristic areolation shoWll in the figure. Im- ' 

pressions of the lower surface indicate that the 

underside of the leaf was clothed with stout 

hairs. 

This species is clearly allied to the group 

of somewhat earlier Upper Cretaceous form~ 

tha~ have been referred to the genus Andromeda and are so common in the Atlantic 

Coastal Plain, and of which Andromeda 

parlatorii Heer is probably the most common. 

Their generic reference is by no means beyond 

question. The present species differs from the 

earlier forms in the general outline, the m:.tjority being more acuminate, and also in the 

thinness of the. secondaries. In outline it resembles some of the abundant lanceolate forms 

of Ficus of the Coastal Plain Cretaceous, but 

the venation is markedly different. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Order EBEN ALES 

Family SAPOTACEAE 

Genus CHRYSOPHYLLUM Linne 

Chrysophyllum parvum Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XIX, figures 7, 8 

Leaves small, obovate, with a cuneate base 

and a slightly emarginate tip. Extremely 

coriaceous, with entire, slightly revolute margins. Length about 3 centimeters; maximum 

vdclth about 1.5 centimeters. Petiole wanting. 

l\iiclrib very stout and prominent, curved. 

Secondaries numerous, stout, subparallel; nine 

or ten subopposite pairs diverge from the midrib at wide angles (about 75° to 80°)' pursue 

a straight outward course, and have their ends 

united by arches in the marginal region. Tertiaries well marked, comprising in the median 

region veins parallel with the secondaries, 
EBEN ALES 85 

which break up to. form open polygonal meshes 

in the ma.rgina.I region. 

This well-marked sma1l for1n shows points of 

similarity with some modern species of 'Jf imusops, a genus related to Ohrysophyllum, and 

also with certain species of Ficus, as for example Ficus nitida Thunberg. It "might ,be 

considered an aberrant Fimts leaf of the Ficus 

.benja1ninea type but appears to resemble most 

closely various species of Ohrysophyllum. It 

shows some resemblance to the genus Oalyptranthes Swartz, of the family Myrtaceae, but 

the venation is more nearly ,that characteristic 

of Okrysophyllum. 

Occ\nTence: J\1cNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Genus BUMELIA Swartz 

Bumelia prewilcoxiana Berry. n. sp. 

Plate XX, figure 5 ; Plate XXI, figure 4 

Leaves small, ol;>cord'ate, with a wide retuse 

apex and a broadly rounded and ultimately decurrent base. Margins entire, full but slightly 

irregular. Texture subcoriaceous. Length 

2 to 5 centimetel's or slightly less; maximum 

width, in the upper half of the leaf, 1.75 to 3.5 

centimeters. Ears broad, evenly rounded. 

Sinus retuse, extending one-sixth to one-sev:-

enth of the distance to the base. Petiole re~atively long and very stout, curved, about 6 

millimeters in length. Midrib very stout and 

prominent, curved. Secondaries stout but 

largely immersed in the leaf substance; four 

or five subopposite pairs diverge from the midrib at wjde angles an:d are camptodrome. Tertiaries thin, largely ·percurrent. 

This well-marked species is considered to 

have been ancestral to the lower Eocene species 

Bumelia 1.vilcoxiana Berry,19 a~ is indicated by 

the name assigned to it. Bumelia wilcoxiana 

is a somewhat larger, slightly more elongated 

form, with more cuneate base and shorter pet-

. iole. This form also shows some resemblance 

to the antecedent Tuscaloosa species Sapotacites shirleyensis Berry,20 which I suggested as 

a possible ancestor of Bumelia wilcoxiana in 

discussing that species in 1916. The present 

10 Berry, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, p. 336, 

pl. 100, figs. 4, 5; pl. 107, fig. 3, 1916. 20 Berry, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 112, p. 

135, pl. 28, fig. 11 ; pl. 29, figs. 4-6, 1919. 

species may also be compared with Oolutea 

obovata Berry,2i of the earlier Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa and Magothy formations, 

and with Oolutea protogaea Heer,22 of the 

Patoot beds of western Greenl'and. The 

species is represented in the present collection 

by two ·specimens. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Bumelia ripleyilna Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XX, figure 6 

Leav~s orbicular, divided one-third of the 

distance to the base by an open, rather 

straight-sided, prox.imally rounded sinus. 

Ears widely separated, inequilateral, roundecl 

at their tips. Base broadly rounded to the 

point of attachment, where the margins are 

slightly decurrent. Margins· entire, somewhat 

undulate. Texture coriaceous, the surface of 

the leaf polished. Midrib extremely stout and 

prominent. Secondaries thin, immersed in the 

substance of the leaf; four or five pairs diverge from the midrib at angles of about 45° 

and are camptodrome in the marginal region. 

Areolation a finely reticulated mesh of four 

or five sided areolae. Petiole wanting, which 

suggests that the leaf was sessib~ as so thick 

a midrib would scarcely be separated from a 

petiole o:f corresponding thickness at this exact point had a petiole been present in life. 

This is a well-marked member of the Ripley 

flora, readily distinguished from the associated emarginate or retuse :forms. It is a type 

that has suggested the genus Oolutea to some 

paleobotanists but is more profitably compared with Bumelia, of which there are ft 

number o:f comparable forms in the early 

Eocene o:f the Mississippi embayment region. 

It may be compared with the somewhat similar Sapotacites ettingshattseni Berry,28 of the. 

Tuscaloosa formation in Alabama, which may 

possibly be looked upon as an ancestral type . 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member o:f Ripley :formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

'Tenn. 

111 Berry,, E·. W., Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 33, p. 175, pl. 

8, figs. 5, 6, 1906. 22 Heer, Oswald, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 7, p. 43, p·l. 61, 

fig. 1c ; pl. 62, fig. lc, 1883. 23 Berry, E·. W., U. S. GeoL Survey Prof. Paper 112, p. 135. 

pl. 29, fig. 7, 1919. 
86 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

Order GENTIAN ALES 

Family ASCLEPIADACEAE 

Genus ACERATES Nilsson 

Acerates cretacea Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XX, figure 4 

Leaves small, narrowly elongate-linear, generally falcate, gradually narrowed to the 

acuminate tip and abruptly narrowed to the 

pointed base. Margins entire. Texture subcoriaceous. Petiole short and stout, practically wanting. Midrib stout, curved, relatively 

prominent. Secondaries thin, numerous, ascending either obviously camptodrome or uniting to form a marginal vein. Length about 8 

centimeters; maximum width, in the basal part 

of the leaf, about 3 millimeters. 

This handsome slender species is much like 

Acerates veterana Heer, of the Arctic and 

European Tertiary. It is also much like certain European Te.rtiary forms that have been 

referred to the genus Echitonium of the allied 

family Apocynaceae. The venation is that 

characteristic of Acerates and of certain existing species of Asclepiadaceae and Apocynaceae. 

This species is not cornmon in the Ripley but 

is an exceedingly characteristic form readily 

recognizable even when fragmentary if the 

venation can be seen. 

The genus Acerates has seldom been recognized in fossil floras. Somewhat larger species 

than that of the Ripley . .are Acerates arctica 

Heer, ~ from the Atane and Patoot beds of 

Greenland; Acerates amboyensis Berry ,

25 of 

the Tuscaloosa, Raritan, and Black Creek forInations of the Atlantic Coastal Plain; and 

Acerates veterana I-Ieer,26 of the European and 

Arctic Tertiary. Cockerell 27 has referred a· 

follicle from the Florissant Miocene to this 

genus. 

Occurrence: J\icN airy sand member of Rip-· 

ley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

u Heer, Oswald, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 6, pt. 2, p. 82, 

pl. 30, figs. 19, 20, 1882. 

211 Berry, E. W., Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 36, p. 263, 

1909. 

20 Heer, Oswald, Flora tertlaria Helvetlae, vol. ·s, p. 20, pl. 

104, figs. '5-8, 1859. 

27 Cockerell, T. D. A., Am. Naturalist, vol. 42, p. 580, fig. 

10, 1908. 

Family APOCYN ACEAE 

Genus APOCYNOPHYLLUM Unger 

Apocynophyllum giganteum Berry, n. sp. 

· Plate XXI, figure 2 

. Lea.ves of variable but large size, lanceolate, 

apparently slightly inequilateral, widest in the 

middle and with an acute a.pex and an equally 

acute base. J\tlargins entire. Texture coriaceous. Length about 22 centimeters; maximum width about 5 centiineters. The smallest 

specimen seen is 15 centimeters in length and 

3.75 centimeters in maximum width. Petiole 

missing. Midrib stout, slightly flexuous, 

pron1inent on the lower surface of the leaf. 

Secondaries thin, numerous, and subparallel; 

they diverge from the midrib at. angles of 

about 65° at regular intervals of about 6 or 

7 milli1neters, sweeping upward in regular 

curves and arching along the ma.rgins. Tertiaries thin, prevailingly obliquely p~rcurrent, 

generally with an intermediate vein in the 

central region of the leaf midway between the 

adjacent secondaries, with which it is subparallel. 

In general form these leaves resemble Magnolia lanceolata Lesquereux, but the venation 

is diiferent and typical of A.pocynophyllum, 

although there is some resemblance to certain 

fossil forms that have been referred to the 

genus Ficus. 

·The genus Apocynophyllum is a form genus 

for members of the family Apocynaceae whose 

generic position is uncertain and which -resemble Thevetia, Oerbera, Apocynum, and other 

existing genera. A considerable number.of fossil species have been described, including five 

or six fron1 the Upper Cretaceous and over a 

score from the Eocene of both Europe and 

America. The genus has not been rec.ognized in 

the earlier Upper Cretaceous of the Atlanti0 

Coa.stai Plain but is present in the Dakota 

sandstone of the vVest. It is abundantly represe~ted in the Eocene of the Mississippi embay. 

ment region, however. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley. formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock. 

Carroll County~ Tenn. 
GENTIAN ALES 87 

Apocynophyllum perryensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XXI, figure 1 

Oblong obtuse leaves of considerable size, 

widest above the middle, with a broadly rounded tip and extended tapering base. Margins 

entire, somewhat undulate. Texture ~oriaceous. Lamina inequilateral and somewhat falcate. Length about .16 centimeters; maximum 

width about 2.5 centimeters. Midrib stout, 

prominent, and curved. Secondaries apparently not differentiated, the venation consisting 

solely of a· very fine isodiametric areoloation 

suggestive of the Proteaceae. 

This peculiar species iS' based upon the single 

specimen figured. lt is distinctive enough for 

stratigraphic assignment, but the features are 

not sufficiently developed for comparisons with 

the existing genera of Apocynacea~. 

Occurrence:· McN~airy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Apocynophyllum sumterensis (Berry) Berry 

Q1tero·u.s 81tmte1·ensis Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 84, p. 35, pl. 10, figs. 9, 10, 1914. 

" Undeterminable leaf," Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof .. Paper 112, pl. 31, figs. 5, 6, 1919. 

Leaves large, linear, acuminate, coriaceous, · 

entire, with a broadly cuneate base. Length 

about 15 to 16 centimeters; greatest width 3 

centimeters. Petiole short and stout. Midrib 

stout. Secondaries thin, branching from the. 

midrib at angles ·of 45° ·or more, taking a 

rather straight course, almost to the margin 

and then turning sharply, upward. Tertiaries 

obsolete, as are also the secondaries in some 

specimens. 

The Ripley material is fully as long as the 

type material but prevailingly narrow, so that 

the ba$e is more narrowly cuneate and the 

secondaries are slightly more ascending. The 

extremely elongate and usually somewhat fal-

·ca.te form is very chara~teristic. 

A.lthough this species was originally compared unhesitatingly with the willow · and 

hwrel oaks, this comparison 'no longer seems 

valid. The type material was preserved in a 

clay ironstone and showed less detail than that 

preserved in the fine-grained Ripley clay. The 

venation proves to differ decidedly from that 

of Quercus in the more close-set thin regular 

secondaries, the lack of prominence of the midrib, and the details of the areolation, as well 

as in the extremely elongate form of the leaf 

as a whole. On the other hand, it agrees with 

various fossil forms of Apocynophyllum and 

with' several recent genera of the family 

A pocynacea~. 

The fragments from the Ripley of Alabama 

(U. S. Nat. Museum catalog Nos. 34957, 

34958) are now seen to be referable to this 

species. · 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow 

Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. Ripley formation, Cowikee Creek, Barbour County, Ala. 

Apocynophyllum ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XXI, :figure 3 

Leaves linear-lanceolate, widest in the lower 

halt, gradually narrowed upward to the greatly extended and often falcate acuminate tip 

and downward to the decurrent· base. Margins entire. Texture subcoriaceous. Length 

from 13 to 20 centimeters; maximum width 

from 1.1 to 2. centimeters. Petiole short and 

stout. Midrib stout, prominent. Secondaries 

thin, obsolete by immersion in n1ost of the 

specimens, diverging at wide ·angles at regular 

intervals of about 3 millimeters, and camptodrome. Tertiaries thin, forming an open lat-

. erally elongated ·polygonal areolation. 

This species is perhaps only a variety of 

Apocynophyllum s~tmterensis Berry, with 

which it is associated. It has the same general form but varies to a smaller size, is relatively narrower, with a different disposition of 

the more numerous secondaries. It is also a 

more abundant form in the collections. In 

specimens lacking the venation it is liable to 

·be· confused with various linear-lanceolate 

leaves of severaJ genera such as 11/ yrcia and 

N ectandra, but it is in general more elongated 

than any associated. forms. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand mmuber of 

Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow 

Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. 

Apocynophyllum alatum Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XXIII, figure 7 

Elongate-lanceolate leaves with acuminate 

tips and rounded decuri·ent bases expanding 
88 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION 

to winged petioles. . Margins entire, conspicuously undulate in smne ·specimens. Leaf substance thin. Length from 13 to 15 centimeters; maximum width, below the middle, 1.75 

to 2.25 centimeters. Petioles stolJt ana expanded proximad, about 1.25 c~ntimeters in 

length, curved, bordered by wings increasing 

in width from the sinus at the base of the 

lamina to the truncate(y rounded base, where 

they are 1 to 2 millimeters in width, making 

the total width at the base of the petiole about 

6 millimete.rs. Midrib stout, curved.· Secondaries nun1erous, thin, camptodrome. · Tertiaries thin. Areolation minute. 

This form is at once distinguished by its 

thin texture and its much expanded and con-· 

spicuously alate petioles. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand 1nember of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

T6nn. 

:POSITION UNCERTAIN 

Genus CALYCITES of authors 

Calycites ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XXII, figure·l 

A scarious calyx of considerable consistency, 

consisting of five triangular lanceolate sepa.ls · 

coalescent proximad. The whole is about 15 

millimeters in diameter; each sepal is about 

6 millimeters in length and 3 millimeters wide 

at the base. There is no trace of any fruit 

in connection with the calyx. 

This well-marked floral organ is represented 

by a single specimen. It suggests S olanites 

or Sym,plocos but ·might well represent a 

member of almost any gamosepalous family, 

for example, Diospyros, of the Ebenaceae. It 

is not characteristic of Diospyros, however, 

although it is identical with what Saporta 

calls Diospyros rugosa, a coll!mon form in the 

Oligocene of southeastern France. 28 Leaves 

of Diospyros are abundant in the American 

Upper Cretaceous, although none have been 

recognized in the Ripley, and a very distinctive calyx occurs in beds as old as the Raritan 

formation. 29 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand m~mber of 

Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

0 

28 Saporta, Gaston de. Etudes sur Ia veg~tation du sud-est 

de Ia France A. l'epoque tertiaire, vol. 1, p. 111, pl. 11, fig. 3, 

1863. 20 B~rry, E. W., Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vo·l. 38, p. 418, 

pl. 19, fig. 5, ] 911. 

Genus· :PHYLLITES Brongniart 

Phyllites hydrilloides Berry n. sp. 

Plate XXII, figure 2 

A small and delicate form suggestive of an 

aqua,tic habitat, oblanceolate, widest above the 

middle, decurrent to the sessile base. Margin 

with tiny remote teeth. Midrib thin, greatly 

expanded at the sheathing base. Rest of the 

venation obsolete. Length about 1.9 centimeters; maximum width about 4 millimeters. 

This. tiny form may be a juvenile leaf of 

some of the associated lanceolate-toothed 

margined Ripley species, but it does not appear to be, and its delicate texture and lack 

of venation suggest its relationship to such a 

modern form as the genus H ydrilla L. C. 

Rich, of the family Hydrocharitaceae. This 

genus includes a wide-ranging water plant of 

the sea margins found in Europe, Asia, Africa, 

and Australia and generally considered 

· monotypic, although this is very doubtful. In 

the absence of conclusive proof of such a relationship the. fossil form is referred to the noncommittal genus Phyllites. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Phyll~tes hydrocharitoides Berry n. sp. 

Plate XXII, figure 9 · 

. Elongated, slender, linear, forking foliar organs, fiat, of slight consistency but with a 

prominent median ~ein or midrib. No other 

veins can be discerned in the lamina, which is 

about 2 millimeters in width. 

These rem·ains are oom1non at the Carroll 

County locality, and massed fragments suggest 

some gymnospermous genus such as Dicranophyllum, Trichopitys, or Ozekanowskia, but 

more complete mater\al shows these suggestions 

to be remote from the facts. Undivided specimens as much as 13 centimeters ih length have 

been observed and they are too loax to be even 

considered as Cyperaceae. In two specimens 

there is an aureole of fiabellate. bra,nching a ppendages at the node or fork, suggestive .of 

flattened· rootlets from a branched fla.ttened 

rootstock. They appear to me to be remotely 

comparable to Ph.yllospadix or T1 allisneria or 

some related genus, and I would suggest that 

they represent some water weed of the Ripley 
POSITION UNOERTAIN 89 

sea margin referable ·to the Hydrocharitaceae 

or Potamogetonaceae. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn~ 

Phyllites ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XXII, figure 4 

Medium large leaves, ovate, widest in the 

middle and about equally pointed •at both ends, 

with entire, evenly rounded margins. Texture 

subcoriaceous. No traces of venation except 

the midrib and a thin, fine nondistinctive areolation. Length about 8.5 centimeters; maximum width about 4.2 centimeters. 

This form is without geologic or botanic significance except that it indicates the presence 

of an otherwise unknown member of the Ripley flora. It is remarkable. in showing no 

traces of a secondary venation, which should 

be pronounced in a. leaf of th!s .size. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow Rock, 

Carroll County, Tenn. 

Carpolithus ripleyensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XXII, figure 5 

A relatively large drupaceous fruit, nea.rly 

4 centimeters in length and 2.8 centimeters in 

maximum diameter as preserved in the shell 

marl of the Ripley formation at Coon Creek, 

Tenn. Consisting of a lignified sarcotesta of 

great thickness and a,. hard, smooth sclerotesta 

or stone. Botanic affinity unknown, and the 

specimen is interesting chiefly from the fact 

that it must ha.ve originally possessed considerable buoyancy, which is unusual in a fruit 

of this kind unless the surmise,_ that it was 

drupaceous is erroneous and it was an indehiscent ligneous capsula.r fruit. The fact 

that the supposed stone is somewhat excentric. 

in position renders this possible and suggests 

that the stone is a large hard seed and that 

more than one was originally present around 

the central axis. It .should, perhaps, be compared with members of the Sapotaceae. 

Occurrence: MeN airy sand member of Riptey formation, Coon Creek, MeN airy County, 

Tenn. 

Carpolithus perryensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XXII, figure 3 

Turbinate fruits with a stout peduncle, enlarged seed-bearing distal portion, and apieulate tip, the whole about 7.5 millimeters in 

length and 3 millimeters in maximum di-. 

ameter. 

These remains are somewhat suggestive of 

the Upper Cretaceous genus P1·otodammara, 

abunda.nt at earlier horizons in the Coastal 

Plain. They lack resin canals, however, are 

narrower and more spherical distad, and appear to conta.in seeds in this enlarged portion. 

It is believed that they are not coniferous but 

that they represent some dicotyledonous form. 

Occurrence: McNairy sand member of Ripley formation, Perry place, Henry County, 

Tenn. 

Carpolithus carrollensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate XXII, figure 6 

A bluntly fusiform, fibrous, ligneous fruit of 

unknown botanic affinity, 3 centimeters in 

length and 1.5 centimeters in ma-ximum diameter. 

These poorly characterized fruits ~re, however, of great importance, as they appear to 

be identical with those from the lignites of 

Fuve~u, in southern France, described by 

Sa porta 30 and con1pared by him with the nuts 

of Nipadites, the Eocene representative of the 

existing nipa palm. The former fruits come 

from a horizon usually considered of Aturian 

age, and if the comparison of the Tennessee 

and French fruits is worth anything-and it 

seems to me to be a legitimate and close oneit is of considerable importance for .purposes 

of correlation. It would seem that Saporta 

was justified in considering the French fruits 

those of some palm, and I believe that the same 

relationship is indicated for Carpolithus carrollensis. 

Occurrence : MeN airy sand member of 

Ripley formation, Cooper pit, near Hollow 

Rock, Carroll County, Tenn. 

30 Saporta, Gaston de, Etudes sur Ia v~getation du sud-est 

de la France it l'epoque tertiaire, vol. 1, .P· 47, pl. 1, fig. 6, 

1863. 
90 THE FLORA OF THE RIPLEY .FORMATION 

Halymenites major. Lesquereux 

Halymenites major Lesquereux, Tertiary flora, p. 38. 

pl. 1, figs. 7, 8, 1878. 

These objects, frequently considered to represent fossil fucoids, are very abundant in the 

western United States in sandy beds ranging 

in age from the Colorado group· to the Eocene. 

They were long thought to be typical of the 

Fox Hills sandstone, in which they are abun--

dantly developed, but have now been found in 

both older and younger beds and ch'aracterize 

sandy ferruginous sediments. 

Typical material is plentiful in the Coffee 

sand member of the Eutaw formation and also 

at different horizons in the Ripley formation 

in western Tennessee. Generally, however, 

these objects are very friable, and the collected 

specimens represent only the beds enumerated 

below. 

Occurrence: Coffee sand member of Eutaw 

formation, Coffee Bluff, H'ardin County, Tenn. 

MeN airy sand member of Ripley formation, 

MeN airy County, Tenn. 
PLATES 

91 























INDEX 

A Page 

Acaciaphyllitcs cretaceum Berry, n. SP----------------------- 57, Pl. X 

Acer cretaceum Berry, n. SP---------------------------- 66-67, Pl. XIII 

Acerates cretacea Berry, n. SP-------------------------·----- 86, Pl. XX 

Alismaphyllum cretaceum Berry, n. sp ___________________ 35-36, Pl. III 

Andromeda auceps Berry, n. SP---------------------------- 84, Pl. XX 

novaecaesaroao Berry.-------------------------------------__ 62 

A nclrovettia _______________ .... ____________ ... --.----........ -- _ _ 32 

Apocynophyllum alatum Berry, n. sp _______________ 87-88, Pl. XXIII 

giganteum Berry, n. SP-------------------------------- 86, Pl. XXI 

perryensis Berry, n. SP--------------·------------------ 87, Pl. XXI 

ripleyonsis Berry, n. SP------------------------------- 87, Pl. XXI 

sumtorensis (Berry) BerrY----------------------------------- 87 

Aralia problematica Berry, n. SP----------------------- 83-84, Pl. XX 

wollingtoniana minor Berry, n. var ------- 82-83, Pis. XIX, XXIII. 

Amucaria bladononsis Berry .. --- __ ------.-----... --.----. __ .. ___ 33-34 

jofTroyi Berry ___ ------------- ____ ----- __________________ .--~- 34 

Artocarpus crotacoa Derry, n. SP------------------ 48-50, Pis. VIII, IX 

:Asimina ooconica '? Knowlton____________________________________ 79 

Asplenium caloptoris (Deboy and :Ettingshauson) lloor. --- 25-2C., Pl. I 

D 

Bnuhinin ripleyonsis Berry_______________________________________ 58 

Bcnizia cnloptel'is _______ --------- ______ . __ . ----.. ----.. -----.. __ -. 25 

Black Creek flora, comparison of, with the Ripley flora._"------- 19 

.Bumelia prewilcoxiana Berry, 11. SP----------------- 85, Pis. XX, XXI 

ripleynna Berry, 11. SP---------------------------------- 85, Pl. XX 

c 

Cacsnlpinitcs penyensis Berry, n. SP------------------------- 58, Pl. X 

riployensis Derry, n. SP--------------------------------- 58, Pl. XI 

Ct\llitris ... _ -------.-------------.. --------------------------.---- 29 

Cnlycitcs ripleyensis Berry, n. SP------------------------ 88, Pl. XXII 

Cappnris proceuica Berry, n. SP--------------------------- 56-57, Pl. X 

Carpollth\lS carrollensis Berry, n. SP--------------------- 89, Pl. XXII 

perryensis Berry, n. SP------------------------------- 89, Pl. XXI~ 

rlployensis Derry, n. SP------------------------------ 89, Pl. XXII 

Codrolt\ prowilcoxiana Berry, n. SP------------------------- 61, Pl. XII 

Colastrophyllum cnrolinonsis Berry_-------------·---------------- 63-64 

cnssiqoidos Derry, n. SP-------------------------------- 65, Pl. XII 

minimum Derry, n. SP------------------------------ 64-65, Pl. XU 

porryi Berry, 11. SP------------------------------------- 65, Pl. XII 

riployanum Derry, 11. SP------------------------------- 64, Pl. XII 

variabilis Berry, 11. SP------------------------------ 65-66, Pl. XIII 

Celtis crotacoa Berry, 11. SP------------------------------ 47-48, Pl. VII 

Chrysophyllum parvum Berry, 11. SP------------------ 84-85, Pl. XIX 

Clnnamomum intormodium Smith---------------------------~-~- 75 

11ewberryi DerrY----------------------------------- 75-76, Pl. XVI 

olliptioum Berry, n. var _ -------------------------- 77, Pl. XVI 

lanceolatum Berry, n. var_ ________________________ 76, Pl. XVI 

minimum Berry, n. var·-------------------------- 77, Pl. XVI 

praespectabile Berry, n. sp. -----------------c----- 77-78, Pl. XVII 

sezannense Hoer •••. ----------------------------------------- 75 

Cissites crispus Velenovsky______________________________________ 70 

panduratus Knowlton ••••.•••• _----•.••• _____________ ••••••• 7Q-72 

Coffee sand member, distribution oL............................ 2 

Colorado group, flora of. •••••••••.•.•••••••.••••••••••••••••.•• ·•• 21 

Cornophyllum minimum Berry, n. sp ..••••••.••••.•.••••• 84, Pl. XIX 

Correlation of the Ripley flora •..• ---········-----·-------·------ 23-24 

Cunninghamites elegans (Cordn) Endlicher _ --------------------- 33 

D 

Dalborgia cretacoa Berry, n. SP------------------------------ 59, Pl. XI 

porryana Derry, n. sp. _ --------------------------------- 59, Pl. XI 

prowllcoxiana Berry, n. SP--------------------------- 59-60, Pl. XI 

Dammara aclcularis Knowlton ___________________________ 34, Pl. XXII 

Dobey and Ettii!gshause11, cited ______________________________ 25,26,27 

Dlllonitos crotaceus Berry, n. SP--------------------------- 74, PI. XV 

Dloscoritos crotaceus Berry, n. SP--------------------------- 36, Pl. III 

100913-25t-9 

Page. Doryanthi tes cretacea Berry _____________________________________ 36-37 

Dryophyllum gracile Dobey_____________________________________ 46 

protofagus Berry, n. SP-------------------------------- 46-47, Pl. V 

Dryopterites stephenson! Berry_--------------------------------- 28 

E 

Eucalyptus augusta Vclenovsky ____ ----------------------------- 82 attenuata Ward._____________________________________________ 81 

Eug~nia'? anceps BerrY----------------------------------- 82, Pl. XIX 

Euphorbiophyllum antiquum Saporta and Marion ....•• 62,-63, Pl. XU 

petiolatum Berry, n. SP-------------------------------- 62, Pl. XII 

tennesseensis Berry, n. s·p _______________ .f- ____ ,.., ________ 62, Pl. XII 

Eutaw flora, comparison of, with the Ripley flora ________________ 18-19 

Eutaw formation, distribution oL------------------------------- 2 

F 

Fagus ripleyonsis Berry, n. SP-------------------------- 47, Pis. V, VII 

Ficus bockwithii Lcsquereux_____________________________________ 50 

carrollonsis Berry, n. sp ________________ : _________________ 53, Pl. x· 

celtifolius DerrY----------------------------------------- 52, Pl. X 

cooporensis Derry, u. SP---------------------------------- 52, Pl. X 

crassipes (Ifoer) Heor.. _________________________________ 51, Pl. VII 

georgiana Berry______________________________________________ 53 

kransiana 1Je01· ... ________________ ,. __________________________ 50-51 

leci Knowlton .. ______________________________________________ .12 

obtusa-sossilia Berry, n. sp _____________________________ 51, Pl. VII 

ripleyana Berry, n. SP---------------------------------- 50, PI. VII 

suspecta Velenovsky _____________ ------------. _ _ _ ____ ____ _ _ _ _ .10 

France, comparison of Cretaceous flora of, with tho Hipley flora.. 23 

Frenelites reichii Ettingshauseu__________________________________ 29 

G 

9einitzia formosa Heer ___________________________________________ 32-33 

gracillima Jeffrey _______________ -----------------_------------. 32 

Geonomites schimperi Lesquereux _________________________ 37-39, Pl. II 

visianii Berry_------------- ____ .. ______ ---------------------- 39 

Germany, comparison of Cretaceous flora of, with the Ripley flora. 22-23 

Gloditsiophyllum aristatum Berry, n. SP--------------------.61, Pl. XI 

preovatum Berry, n. SP------------------------------ 6Q-61, Pl. XI 

prooocenicum Derry, n. SP---------------------~-------- (H, Pl. XI 

Gosau flora, comparison of, with the Ripley flora_________________ 23 

Grewiopsis inoquilatoralis Berry, n. ·SP------------------ · 73, Pl. XV 

ripleyensis Berry, n. SP----------------------------- 72-73, Pl. XV 

Gymnogrammo bohemica ... _ __ ____ __ ___ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ 26 

H 

Halymonites major Lesquoreux__________________________________ 90 

Heor, Oswald, cited _________________________________________ .____ 32 

J 

Japan, comparison of Cretaceous flora of, with the Ripley flora.... 22 

Juglans similis Knowlton. _____________________________________ •• 39 

tennesseensis Berry, n. SP---------------------------- 39-40, Pl. III· 

wadii Berry, n. SP--------------------------------~------ 40, Pl. IV 

K 

Knowlton, F. H., cited .•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 25, 34, 39, 46, 52,80 

L 

Laurophyllum ripleyensls Berry, n. SP-------~------- 80-81, Pl. XVIII Laurus angusta Hear ___ •. ________________________ ._______________ 79 

asiminoides Berry, n. SP------------------------- 79-80, Pl. XVIII 

atanensis Berry ______________________________________________ 78-79 

coloradensis Knowlton .. _____________________________________ 80 

riploycnsis Berry, n. SP----------------------------- 80, Pl. XVIII 

Leguminosites canavaliodes Berry________________________________ 60 

carrollensis Berry, n. SP--------------------------------- 60, Pl. XI 

perryensis Berry, n. sp ..... : ... ------------.------------- 60, Pl. XI 

Lesquoreux, Leo, cited .• __ ---- ____________ --- _______ --------____ 37 

Liriodendron laramienso Ward.---------------- 53-55, Pis. XI,.XXIII 

93 
94 INDEX 

M 

Page 

Magnolia capellinii Heer. ------- ___ -------- ______________________ 55-56 

Magothy flora, comparison of, with the Ripley flora ______________ 19-20 

Malapoenna horrellensis Berry ______ :____________________________ 78 

Manihotites georgiana BerrY------------------------------------- 63 

Menispermites variabilis Berry __ ·-------------------------------, 56 

Mimosites cooperensis Berry, n. SP-------------------------~- 57, Pl. X 

Monheimia aquisgranensis Debey and Ettingshausen ________ 27, Pl. I 

Montana group, flora oL _________________________________________ 21-22 

Moriconia Debey and Ettingshausen·---------------"------------. 29-30 

americana Berry ______________________________________ 31-32, Pl. III 

cyclotoxon Debey and Ettingshausen.,----~--------- .3D-31, Pl. III 

Myrcia dubia Berry, n. SP----------------------~------ 81-82, Pl. XIX 

havanensis BerrY----------------~·-------------------- 81, Pl. XIX 

Myrica ·brittoniana Berry _______________________ c_ •. _

7 

______ 45, Pl. VI 

brittoniana obtusata Berry, n. var ________________________ 45, Pl. V 

cooperensis Berry, n. SP------------------------------ 42-43, Pl. VI 

johnstrupi (Heer) Berry _______________________________ -~---__ 43 

minor Berry, n. SP-----------------------------------.43-44, Pl. VI 

ornata Berry, n. SP--------------------------------"----- 44, Pl. VI 

ripleyensis Berry _______ ~ _____________________________________ 41-42 

torreyi Lesquereux. ------- _________________ ~ ___________ .44, Pl. VI 

obtusata Berry, n. var -------------·-----------------.45, Pl. VI 

wadii Berry, n. SP------------------------------------ 40-41, Pl. IV 

minor Berry, n.·var __________________________ _, ______ 41, Pl. IV 

Myrtop~yllum angustum (Velenovsky) Berry, n. comb .. 82, Pl. XIX 

N 

Nectand.ra prolifica Berry, n. SP-------------------------- 78, Pl. XVIl 

p 

Pachystima? cretacea BerrY------------------------------------- 66 

Patoot flora, comparison of, with the Ripley flora ________________ 2Q-21 

Pecopteris kudlisetensis Heer. _____ ------------------------------ 30 

Phyllites hydrilloides Berry, n. sp ________________________ 88, Pl. XXII 

hydrocharitoides Berry, n. SP--------------------- 88-89, Pl. XXII 

ripleyensis Berry, n. SP------------------------------- 89, Pl. XXII 

Platanus ripleyensis Berry_----------------------~--------------- 53 

sp. Berry ____ ----------- ______ ------ ______ ------ ___ :--------__ 53 

· Portugal, comparison of Cretaceous flora of, with the Ripley flora.. i2 

Potamogeton ripleyensis Berry, n. sp ___________ 34-35, Pis. III, XXIII 

Proteciides crassipes Heer·---------------------------------------- 51 

Protophyllocladus lobatus BerrY--------------------------------- 28-29 

Q 

Quercus sumtcrensis Berry _________________________________ c_____ 87 

R 

~age 

·Raphaelia minuta Berry n. sp ____________________ · _____________ 26, Pl. .I 

neuropteroide.s De bey and E ttingshausen _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 26, Pl. I 

Relations of Cretaceous deposits in the eastern Gulf region_______ 1-3 

Rhamnus ripleyensis Berry, n. SP----------------~-------- 67, Pl. XIII 

Ripley flora, comparison of, with other Upper Cretaceous floras __ 15-23 

composition, origin, and evolution oL·-----------~----------- 5-7 

distribution oL·-------------------- __ -------------------- ____ _ 7-15 

number of species, genera, etc .... --------------------~------- 12-14 . occurrence of..________________________________________________ !i 

Ripley formation, distribution oL _____________________ -~ _______ _ 

limits of. ___ .:·.·--_____________________________________________ 3 

lithologic character oL __ -------------------------------------. stratigraphic-relations of.. ______________ -~- __________________ .,_ 3-4 

subdivisions of. ______________________ ------- ________________ _ 

s · Sabalites sp. Berry------------------------------------~---_______ 39 

Salix gardneri Knowlton? ____________________________________ 46, Pl. V 

Scope .of the report.- __ ------_-~- _____ -----________________________ 1 

Selaginella laciniata Lesquereux •. ________________ .: ___ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2!i 

Selma chalk, distribution oL·----------------------------------- 213 

Sequoia.gracillima Newberry ... c •••••• --------------------------- . 32 

reichenbachi. Lange __ • _______________________ -~______________ -32 

Sterculia snowii tennesseensis BerrY------------------------------ 73-74 

T 

'l'aeniopteris SP--------------------------------------------- 27-:"28, Pl. I 

Ternstroemites cretaceus Berry, n. SP---------------------- 75, Pl. XVI 

ripleyensis Berry, ri. SP-------------------------- 74, Pis. XV, XVI 

tennesseensis Berry, n. SP------------------------·-- 74-75, Pl. XVI 

Thinnfeldia n. sp. BerrY--------------------------------··-------- 28 

Tombigbee sand member, distribution oL______________________ 2 

Tuscaloosa formation, distribution oL--------------------------- 2 

v 

Vancouver Island, flora oL--------------------------------------- 21 

Vermejo flora, comparison of, with the Ripley flora_______________ 21 

w 

Widdringtonites reichii (Ettingshausen) Heer____________________ 29 

z 

Zizypb,us ~aurifolius BerrY----------------------------- 67-68, Pl..XIII 

perryi Berry, n. SP------------------------------------ 69, Pl. XIII 

ripleyensis Berry, n. SP----------------------------- 68-69, Pl. XIII 

0