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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Harold L. Ickes, Secretary 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

W. C. Mendenhall, Director 

Professional Paper 185-E 

MIOCENE PLlt\NTS FROM IDAHO 

BY 

EDWARD WILBER BERRY 

Shorter contributions to general geology, 1934-35 

(Pages 97-1251 

UNITED STATES 

GOVER~'"MENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON: 1934 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D . C. Price 10 cents 
CONTENTS 

Page 

Abstract--------------------------~------------------------------------------------------------------------- 97 

Introduction-------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 97 

Previous studies----- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 97 Fossils at present known from the Latah formation in Idaho _____________ ________________ --------- --- ----------- 98 Local distribution ______________________________________________________ _ ..: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 99 

Environmental Relationships-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------~------------------ 99 conditions ___________________________________________________________________________________ -~ 100 

Age--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Systematic 101 descriptions ____________________________ ~ ____________________________________________ ~_____________ 103 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page PLATES 19-24. Miocene plants from Idaho _______________________________________ ·_______________________________ 125 

FIGURE 4. Restoration of Cercis idahoensis Berry____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 115 

5. Restoration of Acer florissanti Kirchner _________ ________ ------------------------------------------------ 118 

n 
.. MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO 

By EDWARD WILBER BERRY 

ABSTRACT 

The author describes 75 species of plants from the Miocene 

of about 30 localities in Idaho. These plants represent 40 

genera in 28 families and 17 orders, and the most common 

types are species of Acer, Quercus, Populus, Betula, and Laurus. 

There are 2 ferns, 3 monocotyledons, and 70 dicotyledons, 18 

of which are no longer present in the .northwestern United 

States. There are some xerophytic types, but the majority are 

mesophytic, possibly indicating a mixture from different 

altitudes. The beds are correlated with the Latah formation 

and considered to be of upper Miocene age. 

INTRODUCTION 

The material that forms the basis for the following 

report was collected by Virgil R. D. Kirkham, formerly 

of the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology, O.uring 

field work for that organization in 1927 and 1928, and 

was studied by me for the United States Geological 

Survey. Preliminary reports were furnished to the 

Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology under dates of 

December 29, 1927, and February 25, 1929, covering 

respectively the collections of the two years. Since 

that time I have had an opportunity to revise my 

tentative conclusions in connection with work on 

si1nilar Miocene floras from various places in Washington and Oregon and to recognize some few 

additional forms from Idaho. 

No attempt will be made to present even a summary 

of the local geology. The region has been studied by 

Russell, Lindgren, Lupton, Laney, Kirhkam, Piper, 

Johnson, Pardee, Bryan, and others, and recently 

Kirkham has published several papers discussing it, 

of which the two cited below 1 give a full summary of 

the history of its study. 

As will be seen subsequently, the floras known as 

Latah and Payette have much in common and appear 

to be partly contemporaneous. Whether or not the 

formational units so designated correspond as to their 

unper and lower limits cannot be determined from the 

scanty floras known at the present time. Both seem 

to have. been deposited during the same episode in 

the geologic history of this general region, but whether 

their stratigraphic relations to the various basalt sheets 

are as simple as they have been pictured must be left 

to others to decide. 

I Kirkham, V. R. D., and Johnson, M. M., The Latah formation in Idaho: 

Jour. Geology, vol. 37, pp. 483-504, 1929. Kirhkam, V. R. D ., Revision of the 

Payette and Idaho formations: Idem, vol. 39, pp. 193-239, 1931. 

56891-34 

PREVIOUS STUDIES 

In 1898 Lindgren 2 proposed the name "Payette 

formation" for the lake beds in the Idaho Basin from 

which Knowlton 3 described 32 species of plants, of 

which 17 were considered new and 5 were not specifi--

cally determined. The age indicated was considered 

to be upper Miocene. Full references to earlier workers 

(Hayden, Peale, St. John, and others) are given in 

Lindgren's paper. 

Shortly afterward Russell 4 mentioned' similar plantbearing lacustrine sedimentary rocks interstratified 

with flows of Columbia River basalt from localities 

farther north in Idaho, and the same author some 

years earlier had referred in print to similar occurrences 

in the State of ·washington. 

In 1902 Knowlton 5 changed his opinion of the age 

of the Payette flora from upper Miocene to upper 

Eocene, because of its similarity to the flora of the 

beds at Bridge Creek in the John Day Basin, which 

at that time were regarded as upper Eocene. 

In 1923 Bryan proposed the name "Latah formation" for similar lacustrine plant-bearing beds in 

eastern Washington, the detailed account of which, 

with a discussion by Knowlton of the contained flora, 

was published in 1926.6 In 1929 I prepared a revision 

of the Latah flora ~' based upon large additional collections, and more recently I have described an 

extension of this flora in the Grand Coulee region, 8 

near the western boundary of Gr~nt County, Wash. 

It is entirely unnecessary for me to give any further 

historical details of the study centering around the 

Latah or Payette formations, or to attempt a su1nmary 

of the geology, as I have never been in the region, and 

more especially as these and related subjects have 

been rather fully discussed in the papers. by Kirkham 

already cited. -

2 Lindgren,-Waldemar, Mining districts of the Idaho Basin and the Boise Ridge, 

Idaho: U.S. Geol. Survey 18th Ann. Rept., pt. 3, pp. 625-719, "1898. 

3 Knowlton, F. H., idem, pp. 721-744. . 4 Russell, I. C., Geology and water resources of Ji:l"ez Perce County; Idaho: U.S. 

Geol. Survey Water-Supply apers 53 and 54, 1901. 

s·Knowlton; F . H., Fossil !lora of the John Day Basin, Oregon.: U.S. Geol. 

Survey Bull. 204, p. 110, 1902. 

6 Pardee, J. T., and Bryan, Kirk, Geology of the Latah formation: U.S. Geol. 

Survey Prof. Paper 140, pp. 1-·81, 1926. 

1 Berry, E. W., A revision o:f the flora of the Latah formation: U.S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 154, pp. 225-265, pls. 49-64, 1929. · 

s Berry, E .W., A Miocene llora from Grand Coulee, Wash.: U.S. Geol Survey 

Prof. Paper 170, pp. 31-42, pls. 11-13, 1931. 

97 
98 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

FOSSILS AT PRESENT KNOWN FROM THE LATAH 

FORMATION IN IDAHO 

Pteridophyta: 

Polypodiales: 

Polypodiaceae: 

Pteris sp. 

Dryopteris idahoensis Knowlton. 

Coniferophyta: 

Finales: 

Cupressinaceae: 

Sequoia langsdor:fii (Brongniart) Heer. 

Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongniart)Heer. 

Taxodium dubium (Sternberg) Heer. · 

Taxodium, cone. 

Taxodium, seed. 

Libocedrus praedecurrens Knowlton. 

Abietineaceae: 

Pinus monticolensis Berry. 

Pinus, needle. 

Spermatophyta: 

Monocotyledonae: 

Pandanales: 

Typhaceae: 

Typha lesquereuxi Cockerell. 

Naiadales: 

N aiadaceae: 

Potamogeton heterophylloides Berry. 

Liliales: 

Smilacaceae: 

Smilax lamarensis Knowlton. 

Dicotyledonae: 

Salicales: 

Salicaceae: 

Fagales: 

Salix knowltoni Berry. 

Salix florissanti Knowlton and Cockerell. 

Populus lesquereuxi Cockerell. 

Populus eotremuloides Knowlton. 

Populus lindgreni Knowlton. 

Populus sp. 

Populus, bud scales. 

Betulaceae: 

Betula fairi Knowlton. 

Betula heteromorpha Knowlton. 

Betula largei Knowlton. 

Ostrya oregoniana Chaney. 

Fagaceae: 

Fagus pacifica Chaney. 

Fagopsis longifolia (Lesquereux) Hollick. 

Castanea castaneaefolia (Unger) Knowlton. 

Quercus cognata Knowlton. 

Quercus duriuscula Knowlton. 

Quercus idahoensis Knowlton. 

Quercus payettensis Knowlton. 

Quercus simulata Knowlton. 

Quercus treleasii Berry. 

Quercus spokanensis var. gracilis Berry. 

Quercus, cupule. 

Urticales: 

Moraceae: 

Ficus? washingtonensis Knowlton. 

Ulmaceae: 

Ulmus brownelli Lesquereux. 

Ulmus speciosa Newberry. 

Platanales: 

Pia tanaceae: 

Platanus dissecta Lesquereux. 

Spermatophyta-Continued. 

Dicoty ledonae-Con tinue~. 

Ranales: 

Berberidaceae: 

Odostemon simplex (Newberry) Cockerell. 

Menisperma~ae: 

Cebatha heteromorpha (Knowlton) Berry. 

Magnoliaceae: 

Magnolia dayana Cockerell. 

Rosales: 

Pomaceae: 

AmelanGhier scudderi Lesquereux. 

Hamamelidaceae: 

Liquidambar californicum Lesquereux. 

Liquidambar, fruit. 

Caesalpiniaceae: 

Cassia sophoroides (Knowlton) Berry. 

Cassia idahoensis Knowlton. 

Cercis idahoensis Berry. 

Papilionaceae: 

Sophora alexanderi Knowlton. 

Sophora spokanensis Knowlton. 

Sapindales: 

Anacardiaceae: 

Rhus merrilli Chaney. 

Celastraceae: 

Euonymus knowltoni Berry. 

Aceraceae: 

Acer bendirei Lesquereux. 

Acer chaneyi Knowlton. 

Acer florissanti Kirchner. 

Acer merriami Knowlton. 

Acer minor Knowlton. 

Acer oregonianum Knowlton. 

Rhamnales: 

Rhamnaceae: 

Paliurus hesperius Berry. 

Mal vales: 

Tiliaceae: 

Tilia hesperia Berry. 

Malvaceae: 

Hibiscus occidentalis Berry. 

Malva? hesperia Knowlton. 

Parietales: 

Ternstroemiaceae: 

Gordonia idahoensis (Knowlton) Berry. 

Laurales: 

Lauraceae: 

Laurus grandis Lesquereux. 

Laurus princeps Heer . . 

Laurus similis Knowlton.· 

Umbellularia lanceolata Berry. 

Umbellularia dayana (Knowlton) Berry. 

Umbellales: · 

Cornaceae: 

Nyssa hesperia Berry. 

Nyssa knowltoni Berry. 

Position uncertain: 

Phyllites payettensis Knowlton'. 

Carpites boraginoides Knowlton. 

Carpites menthoides Knowlton. 

Fraxinus?, samaras. 

Calyx. 

Mollusca: Lampsilis, valves. 

Insecta: Itonid or phylloxerid galls. 

Pisces: Leuciscus, scales and bones. 
· MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO . 99 

LOCAL DISTRIBUTION 

It has not seemed' worth while to tabulate the locai 

distribution in Idaho of the plants enumerated' above, 

as the collections are very unequal in extent. About 

30 plant-bearing localities were discovered by Eirkham, but some of these failed to yield anything well 

enough preserved to be determinable. Others containing excellent material were insufficiently explored. 

The largest variety of forms came frOin a locality . 

south of Juliaetta, in Nez Perce County, and from tl~e 

localities in the vicinity of Whitebird, in Idaho County, and son1e of these promise to prove as rich as the 

localities near Spokane, Wash., if they are ever iilten- . 

sively worked. 

Premature conclusions as to local distribution are 

almost certain to prove unsound, as has been proved 

by . the later collections from the Spokane region, 

which completely changed the earlier expressed statements regarding the relative abundance of partieular 

species. 

Thus far conifers are sparingly represented in the 

collections from Idaho, but the same thing was true 

of the collections from Spokane described by Knowlton, whereas the later collections fron1 the identical 

outcrops furnished 13 species, some _ of whieh proved 

to b~ exceedingly abundant. 

RELATIONSHIPS 

From the Latah formation of Idaho, 78 different 

kinds of organic remains are recorded, all but three 

o~: which are plants. These three comprise insect le~f 

galls, valves of Lampsilis, and the seales, spines, and 

bones of a small cyprinoid fish which are referred to the 

genus Leuciscus and whieh, although rather intractable 

systematically, are of considerable interest, as I have 

found them to be widespread in the western Miocene 

and present at numerous localities in Idaho Wash- . ' . -

rngton, Oregon, and Nevada. 

Many of the plant-bearing beds at localities associated with the Columbia River lavas and elsewhere · 

in this general region contain diatoms, and some are 

t ypical diatomaceous earths. Except for Mann's 

account 9 of the diatoms from the Latah formation at 

Spokane, these have been almost entirely neglected, 

although they are likely to prove most valuable when 

they shall have become stratigraphically understood. 

A great variety of species may be contained in a srnall 

s.ample, whereas most colleetors-of higher plants are 

hkely to be satisfied with specimens of three or four 

species if the time and labor of collecting a large flora 

and the exigencies of transport discourage complete 

collections. 1 

A specimen of diatomaceous earth from a locality 

about 5 miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County, 

was examined for me by Dr. Mann but not thoroughly 

g Mann, Albert, The fossil diatom deposit at Spokane: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 140, pp. 51-55, pl. 30, 31, 1926. . . 

studied. He reported spicules of fresh water sponges 

and three species of Melosira-M. distans (Ehrenberg) 

:Kuetzing, M. gran·ulata (Ehrenberg) Ralfs, and M. 

crenulata Kuetzing. The first two of these are recorded 

from the Latah formation at Spokane. A eritical 

study of this and other samples would undoubtedly 

disclose a large number of forms, inasmuch as 85 · 

species were identified in a single sample from Spokane. 

Of the 75 different kinds of plant remains recorded 

in the following pages there is obviously considerable 

duplication as to botanic species. This duplication 

is of two kinds-first, the recognition of too many 

species in such genera as Acer and Quercus, owing to 

failure to evaluate or the impossibility of evaluating 

the range of specifie variation; and second,. the separate listing of Taxodium cones and seeds, undetermined 

pine needles, Populus bud scales, Liquidambar fruits, 

and things of that sort which almost certainly belonged 

to associated species based upon foliar remains. The 

pragmatic excuse for my procedure is the experience 

that these objects re normally much less common as 

fossils than foliar remains, and if they are merely 

aHuded to in the discussion of foliar species they are 

almosp invariably overlooked by students using the 

text. 

The plants thus far collected from the Miocene of 

Idaho are about half the number that will probably be 

eventually discovered, as more than 150 are now known 

from the Latah beds in eastern Washington, owing 

largely to the perseverance and industry of two or three 

interested collectors in Spokane. Furthermore, the 

distribution among the natural orders of the plants 

already d,iscovered shows the former presence in Miocene Idaho of an extensive flora. 

There are 40 de:5nitely determined genera distributed in 28 families and 17 orders. ·The genera with . 

largest representation are Acer and Quercus, which are · 

both probably overelaborated. The next largest 

representation is in the genera Populus, Betula, and 

Laurus, each with 3 species. The family best represented is the Fagaeeae, with 10 nominal species. The 

next is the Aceraceae, with 6 nominal species. The 

Salicaceae and Lauraceae have 5 species each, and the 

Betulaceae and Cupressinaceae have 4 species each. 

The order best represented is the Fagales, with 14 

species. Next are the Sapindales, with 8; the Rosales, 

with 7; and the Finales, Salicales, and Laurales, with 

5 each. 

But two ferns, :representing the genera Pteris and 

Dryopteris were found, and they are very rare in the 

eollections. The eoniferophytes are represented by 

5 genera and 5 or 6 species, and their remains appear 

to be individually much less abundant in the Idaho 

eollections than in those from Washington. Only 3 

monocotyledons have been recognized, and these 

represent 3 genera, 3 families, and 3 orders. All the 

numerous -dic'otyle:dons thus far discovered represent 
100 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

the choripetalous alliance, although the supposed 

Fraxinus would prove an exception to this statement 

if its determination is verified. 

The Gamopetalae are as a rule sparingly represented 

in Tertiary floras, owing partly to their relatively late 

evolution, but also to the herbaceous habit of so many 

of the species and thus lesser -likelihood qf successful 

preservation as cmnpared with deciduous trees. That 

Gamopetalae were present in the Miocene flora of 

Idaho is indicated by the 14 species belonging to this 

alliance which are recorded from beds of this age in 

Washington. 

When the Latah flora of Washington is compared 

with the present collections from Idaho, it is obvious 

that many. types of the former are not known from the 

latter. This is perhaps not surprising, as only half 

as many species are known from the Idaho localities. 

None of the following have been found in the collec-

. tions studied frmn Idaho: 

Bryophyta Carpinus Rhamnus 

Lycopodium M enispermi tes Sassafras 

* Equisetum Liriodendron Aralia 

Woodwardia Ribes Corn us Woodsia Hydrangea Ericaceae 

Ginkgo * Prunus Diospyros 

Tumion Cercocarpus Apoc'ynophyllu~ 

Tsuga Meibomites Porana 

Hicoria * Sapindus Viburnum 

Comptonia * Celastrus 

Alnus * Aesculus 

The five species marked with an asterisk (*) have 

been reported by either Knowlton or Chaney from 

the Payette formation farther south in Idaho, which 

Kirkhan1 considers to be 'the same as that which is here 

called Latah. Accidents of preservation or discovery, 

especially in an area inadequately explored, probably 

account for most of this difference, and it may be 

expected to become less marked with future exploration, as has already been suggested. 

ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS 

A discussion of the tentative conclusions regarding 

the ecology to be drawn from the :{..atah flora was 

given in connection. with the description of the flora 

from the Spokane area. 10 As the known flora from 

that area was twice as large as that known from Idaho, 

there is no point in attempting an elaborate ~nalysis 

of the latter. 

Among the 40 genera recorded from the Miocene 

of Idaho, the following 18, or 45 percent, are not 

present in the existing flora of the northwestern United 

States: Cassia, Castanea, Cebatha, Euonymus, Fagus, 

. Ficus, Glyptostrobus, Gordonia, Liquidambar; Magnolia, 

Malva?, Nyssa, Ostrya, Paliurus, Sophora, Taxodium, 

Tilia, Ulmus. 

·The Latah flora of Washington, which has ·been 

much more thoroughly collected, contains the following 

additional exotic genera: Arisaema, Carpinus, Celas10 Berry, E. W., op. cit. (Prof. Paper 154), pp. 233-234. 

trus, Comptonia, Diospyros, Ginkgo, Hicoria, Hydrangea, Liriodendron, Porana, Ptelea, Sapindus, Sassafras, 

and Viburnum. 

If to these are added genera represented by relict 

species, confined to particular situations in the western 

United States but absent in the existing flora of Idaho, 

this list can be extended by the addition of the genera 

Aesculus, Cercis, Libocedrus, Platanus, and Umbellularia. Following a suggestion of Clements, 11 Chaney 12 

has emphasized two principal ecologic groups in the 

Oregon and related Miocene. These are the redwood 

association and the redwood border association, the 

latter being compared with the modern oak-madrofio 

association. . 

The method is valuable for furnishing circumstantial 

evidence in cases of doubt, but it seems to me that there 

is great danger of overstressing it. For example, I can 

see nothing of the sort in the Miocene floras of Idaho 

or in those around Spokane, and as some of the more 

pro min en t elements in this supposed Miocene red wood 

forest, including its redwood representative, Sequoia 

langsdorjii, are holarctic in distribution, generalizations 

bec~me absurd. Mason, in a recent paper/3 writes 

that this method "seems to be an excellent working 

hypothesis in the treatment of at least the later Cenozoic floras." 

If a Miocene forest in which more than half the :flora 

belongs to genera found in southeastern Asiatic or 

southeastern N orthAmerica mesophytic hardwood forests at the present time, and not found in the western . 

United States at the present time, is a redwood association, then the term becomes a name without much 

meaning. The fact that the genera of the Miocene 

flora which still survive on the Pacific slope are represented in the Miocene by species less like such survivors 

than they are like survivors in Asia or southeastern 

North Arnerica, for example, Cercis and Gordonia, 

shows that the problem is almost infinitely more complex than has been believed. I hold no brief for such 

a genus as Glyptostrobus, but the logic that rules out 

Glyptostrobus would also rule out Gin/ego, the Cenozoic 

history of which is very similar but so well known and 

conclusive that no one can dispute the occurrence of 

Ginkgo. It is probably true that it is impossible to be 

sure of always distinguishing the fossil foliage of Sequoia 

· and Taxodium, but this does not mean that Taxodiurn 

was not present in Miocene Idaho or did not have a 

holarctic range in Tertiary time. Cones, cone scalesp 

seeds, and staminate an1ents have been found at too 

many localities, including Idaho, to exclude Taxodium 

as a normal element in Miocene temperate floras . 

11 Clements, F. E., Plant succession: Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 242, p. 362, 

1916. 

12 Clements, F. E., and Chaney, R. W., Methods and prinCiples of paleo-ecology, 

Carnegie Inst. Washington Yearbook 22, p. 319, 1924. Chaney, R. W., Quantitative 

studies of the Bridge Creek flora: Am. Jour. Sci., 5th ser., vol. 8, p. 131, 1924; A 

comparative study of the Bridge Creek flora and the modern redwood forest: Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 349, 1925. 

13 Mason, H. L., Fossil records of some west American conifers: Carnegie Inst. 

Washington Pub. 346, 1927. 
MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO 101 

In the same way rrwst of the genera recognizel are 

not subject to the uncertainty attending the determinations of leaves of a 1nore remote time, such as Eocene 

or Upper Cretaceous, because most of the l\1io·cene 

leaves are too much like existing ones to be mistaken, 

and the leaves are frequently associated with the fruits 

as in Liriodendron, Cercis, ·Ulmus, Ptelea, and Di~spyros~ . In general the Idaho plants, with the possible exceptiOn of the oaks, are overwhelmingly mesophytic in 

facies and entirely temperate in their climatic significance. The essential similarity of the Miocene floras 

in Idaho ·and adjacent States indicates a more widespread uniform environment than exists at the present 

time, and this in turn indicates slight topographic 

relief. So far as Idaho is concerned the temperature 

appears to have been higher than it is at present and 

the rainfall ample. The rainfall appears to have been 

greater than it is today and more evenly distributed 

throughout the year. 

Certain modern regions, like the mesophytic hardwood region of Maryland or Virginia or the uplands of 

cen~ral China, despite many differences in detail, give 

a fairly accurate picture of what the floras and environments were like in the western United States during 

Miocene time. The facts that these Miocene floras 

were essentially holarctic in their distribution and that 

the surviving, ecologic groups in the western United 

States are in general what might be ca,lled relict and 

restricted groups seem to me to impair the value of the 

restricted groups in interpreting the Miocene floras 

?ntil. the. detailed history of extinction, emigration, 

ImmigratiOn, and adaptation is completely worked out 

for the whole area from Miocene time to the present. 

AGE 

Of the 7 5 plants listed in the accompanying table 

of distribution the only ones without a recorded outside 

distribution are the calyx, the supposed Fraxinus 

sarnaras, a pine needle, cones and seeds of Taxodium, 

Populus sp., and Quercus spokanensis gracilis. These 

~epresent accidental finds likely to turn up at any time 

In late Miocene deposits in this general region and 

entirely lack significance for purposes of close co~­

relation. Of the species recorded from Idaho, 57 

have been found in the Latah beds of Washington, 

and there can be no doubt that most if not all of the 

Idaho plant-bearing outcrops are of about the same 

age as the Washington beds. 

Among the 18 forms fron1 Idaho that have not been 

found in Washington the following 6 Payette fonhs 

may possess some significance: 

Dryopteris idahoensis. 

Gordonia idahoensis. 

Odostemon simplex. 

Phyllites payettensis. 

Populus eotremuloides. 

Slilix knowltoni. 

Four of these are also found in the deposit at Bridge 

Creek, namely: . . 

Fagus pacifica. 

Odostemon simplex. 

Ostrya oregoniana. 

Ulmus brownelli. 

This might mean that some of the Idaho localities 

are slightly olde:f than the others, as the deposits of 

Bridge Creek seern definitely earlier Miocene than the 

Latah, hut this loses rrmch of its significance from the 

fact that two ··of the plants common to the beds at 

Bridge Creek occur also at Florissant, Colo. , It seems 

quite evident that if there is any chronologie sequence 

in the plant-hearing beds it will require much more 

extensive collections to work them out. 

Whether the Payette is of the sarr1e age, slightly 

older, or slightly younger than the flora discussed in 

the present paper eahnot be determined from the data 

available at the present time. The Payette flqra is 

very imperfectly known and has received little modern 

study. Chaney's preliminary announcement·

14 of such 

a restudy lists 51 species, some of which were tentative 

identifications. Of these, 23 are represented in the 

present paper. This is a relatively large identical 

element and includes some of the more characteristic 

Latah forms, such .as Betula heteromorpha, Glypto:strobus 

europaeus, Laurus princeps, Umbellularia lanceolata, 

Populus lindgreni, Platanus dissecta, Quercus idahoensis, 

Q. · payettensis, Q. simulata, Sequoia langsdorjii, and 

Ulmus speciosa. The age of the two floras cannot be 

very different, and they may well be contemporaneous, 

as Kirkham has suggested. This is likely to be the 

case, because so large an identical element in two floras - . ' 

one of which is poorly known, is generally taken to 

indicate contemporaneity, and the identical forn1s 

become more numerous as the incompletely known beds 

are more thoroughly _explored. 

Another flora of Miocene age, which is badly in need 

of a more modern study, is that of the Ellensburg 

formation in Washington, about 200 miles west of the 

Idaho plant lo·calities. Only 4 or 5 of the Idaho plants 

are among the 16 reported from the Ellensburg, but I 

suspect that ~ore careful collecting and study would 

greatly increase this number. 

The accompanying-table gives the recorded occurrences of Idaho plants in other areas, and none of these 

require especial comment. It seems certain that they 

are approximately contemporaneous with the l\!Iascall 

flora of the Jqhn Day Basin in Oregon, the Florissant 

flora of Colorado, and that of the St. Eugene silt of 

British Columbia. 

The exact position of any of these in the standard 

world section of the later Tertiary is still a 1natter of 

opinion rather than . proof. My own conviction is 

that they are upper Miocene, and I would not be surprised if it were eventually shown that some of them, 

such as those bordering the Columbia River lavas, 

may have continued into what might properly be called 

Pliocene. 

14 Chaney, R. W., Notes on the flora of the Payette formation: Am. Jour. Sci., 5th 

' ser., vol. 4, pp. 214-222, 192~t 
102 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

Outside occurrences of Idaho Miocene plants 

'0 ..ci e .!i s:l' l=l~ ..Q s:l' j:::l 

~ Q) :3 :3 E a:s 0 .s ~ l=l~ ~~ a:s a:s P:i ~ .::9 

.g>. :3 a>2: Sl=l s ~ 0 a:s s E! aS ,_.o Sl=l ... ., 0 ~0 § o+> 0 ;!::::..0 .8'g ~:g Q) "'l=l '-.S ""'O P-i ·c;; s '3 ..Q 

a:s So .l<lb() 0 <a ._..., Q) p. "'"' b()..Q a>2: a>::l :s 0 0 '0 1-<b() ~a1l 0 H .8 ... ~ eo l=l a:sa> ~ .£ ~ j a)P. l=l..Q ~8 ~z ~~ Q)~ Q) 

l=l ~ ~ 0 ~ fjJ ~ l=l z a:s '0 o"'ij 

·E ::l 2$ .l<l l=l Q) 0 UJO l=l ~ 0 ~ s 0 0 a:s >. gj '0"' $ ~ 0 <a .s .l<l ·o. t5 a:s ;g Q) 

~ a:s ~ ...;; lZl P-i ~ ~ ~ 0 lZl ~ p:; ~ -------------------------- Acer bendirei Lesquereux _______________________________ X ________ X ____________ X ____ X ---- ____ ---- ___ _ Acer chaneyi Knowlton _______________________ · __________ X ____ ____ ____ ? ________________________ ---- ---- ___ _ 

Acer fl.orissanti Kirchner_ __________ :.. ________________________ ..:. _______________ ------------ X ? ---- ---- ---- ---- Acer merriami Knowlton ___________________ ,_ ___________ X X ____________ -------------------------------- Acer minor Knowlton __________________________________ X ________ X ____ ------------------------------------ Acer oregonianum Knowlton ____________________________ X X ____ X ? ____ ---------------- _:_ __ --------

Amelanchier scudderi Lesquereux _________________________ X --...,- ________ X ---- ---- ---- X ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Betula fairi Knowlton _________ ,. ________________________ X ________________ __ :.. _ ________________________ ---- ___ _ 

Betula heteromorpha Knowlton _________________________ X ____ X ____ X ---- X ---------------- __ .;._ ---- Betula largei Knowlton _________________________________ X X ____________ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Carpites boraginoides Knowlton _________________________ X X ____________ -------------------------------- Carpites menthoides Knowlton __________________________ X ________________ -------------------- ---------------- Cassia idahoensis Knowlton _____________ . ________________ ·X ____ X ____________ ---- ---- ____ ---- ---- ---- ---- Cassia sophoroides (Knowlton) Berry ____________________ X ____________________________________________ ----

Castanea castaneaefolia (Unger) Knowlton ________________ X X ________________ ---- ---- ____ ---- ---- ---- -~-- ---- Cebatha heteromorpha (Knowlton) Berry _________________ X X ____________ ------------ ____ -------------------- Cercis idahoensis Berry ______________________________ :_ __ X ____________________ ---- ____ ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Dryopteris idahoensis Knowlton __________________________ , _______ X ____________ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Euonymus knowltoni Berry ______________________ ___ ____ X X ________________ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Fagopsis longifolia (Lesquereux) Hollick __________________ X ________ X ________ X X X ---- ---- ---- ---- X 

Fagus pacifica Chaney _____________________________ ___ __________________ X ____ ---- ---- -------- ---- ---- ---- ---- Ficus washingtonensis Knowltpn _________________________ .x X ________________ ---- ________ --------------

Glyptostrobus (europaeus (Brongniart) Heer ______________ X X X X ___ ..: ____ ---- ____ X ____ ------------ Gordonia idahoensis (Knowlton) Berry ___________________________ X ____________ -------------------------------- Hibiscus occidentalis Berry _____________________________ X ____________________ ---- ____ -------------------- Laurus grandis Lesquereux ______________________________ X ____________________ ---- X ____ X ---- ---- ---- ----

Laurus princeps Heer _____________ - __ ---- _- _______ - _--- X XX X _- _- _- _- _- _- _- _- _- _- _- _- --X-- __ ? __ -_ -_ -_ = __ x __ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Laurus similis Knowlton________________________________ X 

Libocedrus praedecurrens Knowlton ______________________ X X ? ? ________________________ ---- ---- ? 

Liquidambar californica Lesquereux ______________________ X _____ .:. __ X ________ X ____ X X ---- ---- ---- ---- Liquidambar, fruits ____________________________________ X X X X ________ X ---- X X ---- ---- ---- ---- Magnolia dayana Cockerell _____________________________ X _______ ..:. ____ X X ________ ---- X ---- ---- ---- ---- Malva? hesperia Knowlton ______________________________ X ____________________ -------------------------------- Nyssa hesperia Berry ___________________________________ X X ________________ -------- -------- ---- ---- ---- ---- Nyssa knowltoni Berry _________________________________ X ____________________________ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Odostemon simplex (Newberry) Cockerell _________________________ X ____ X ________ ---- X ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Ostrya oregoniana Chaney ____________ ..:. _____________________ · _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X ____________ -- ______ ---- ..:. --- ---- ----. Paliurus hesperius Berry ________________________________ X X ________________________________ ---------------- Phyllites payettensis Knowlton. _________________ · _________________ X X ________________________ ---------------- Pinus monticolensis Berry ______________________________ X ____________________________________ ----------------

Platanus dissecta Lesquereux____________________________ X X X X ____ X ____ X ---- X X ---- ---- ---- Populus, bud scales ____________________________________ X X ____________ ------------------------------------ Populus eotremuloides Knowlton ________________________________ X ________________ ---- ____ -------------------- Populus lesquereuxi Cockerell_,.. _________________________ X X ________________________ X -------------------- Populus lindgreni Knowlton _____________________________ X X X X ____ X ____ ---- ---- ---- ---- _.:_ __ ---- ---- Potamogeton heterophylloides Berry _____________________ X ________________________________ -------------------- Pteris sp _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Quercus congata Knowlton ___ :... _________________________ X X ____________ ------------------------------------ Quercus duriuscula Knowlton _______________________________________ X ________________ ---- ____ ---------------- Quercus idahoensis Knowlton ___________________________________ X ____________________________ ----------------

Quercus payettensis Knowlton ___________________________ X X X ________ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Quercus sp. (cupule) ___________________________________ X X ____________ ------------------------------------ Quercus simulata Knowlton _____________________________ X X X ____________ X ____ ---- ---- ---- X ---- ---- Quercus treleasi Berry __________________________________ X X ___________ :.. -------- ---·- ------------------------ Rhus merrilli Chaney_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X ____________________ ---- ---- ---- ----

Salix: fl.orissanti Knowlton and CockerelL _________________ X ________ X ________________ X ____ ---------------- Salix knowltoni Berry ___________________________ ~______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X ---- ----

Sequoia langsdorfii (Brongniart) Heer_ ___________________ X X X X X ____________ X ____ -------- X X 

Smilax lamarensis Knowlton ____________________________ X ________________________ X ____________ ---- __ :__ ----

Sophora alexanderi Knowlton ___________________________ X X ____________________ ---------------------------- Sophora spokanensis Knowlton __________________________ X X ________________ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Taxodium dubium (Sternberg) Heer ______________________ X X X X ________________ X ____ ---------------- Tilia hesperia· Berry_____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ X __________________ - - ? - - - - - --- - - - - - - -- --- - - --- ---- Typha lesquereuxi CockerelL ________________________ ...; __ X ____ X ____________________ X ________ X --------

Bf~~: ~;~ci~:~liN~~6~::;~~_-:_-:_-:_========================= -X- -X- -X-==== Q ==== --f- ==== -~- ==== ==== ==== -~- -~- Umbellularia dayana (Knowlton) Berry ___________________ X ________ X ________ -------------------------------- Umbellularia lanceolata (Knowlton) Berry ________________ X X X ____ ____ ? ____ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO 103 

SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTIONS 

Phylum PTERIDOPHYTA 

Order POLYPODIALES 

Family POLYPODIACEAE 

Genus PTERIS Linne 

Pteris sp. Berry 

Fern fragment Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 24, pl. 9, fig. 10, 1926. 

Pteris sp., Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 237, 

1929. 

Based on a very incon1plete fragrnent from the Latah 

formation of the Spokane region, Washington. Much 

additional material has been collected, and it is hoped 

that eventually enough will be in hand to disclose the 

habit. It appears to have been not very different from 

the existing and widespread Pteris aquilina Linne. A 

somewhat sirnilar form has been described by Dorf 15 

from the Pliocene of California as Pteris calabazensis. 

The present form has been found at but a single 

locality in Idaho and in a very fragmentary condition. 

Occurrence: 11 miles east of Lewiston on north bank of Clearwater River, Nez Perce County. 

Genus DRYOPTERIS Adanson 

Dryopteris idahoensis Knowlton 

Plate 19, figures 2, 3 

Dryopteris idahoensis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 18th Ann. 

Rept., pt. 3, p. 721, pl. 99, figs. 1, 2, 1898. 

Gleichenia? obscura Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 21st Ann. 

Rept., pt. 2, p. 210, pl. 30, figs. 1-4, 1901. 

Dryopteris? gleichenoides Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 21st Ann. 

Rept., pt. 2, p. 211, pl. 30, figs. 5-7, 1901. 

Dryopteris obscura (Knowlton) Berry, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., 

vol. 72, art. 23, p. 5, 1927. · 

This species was described from the Payette formation near Marsh, Idaho, and was based on very fragmentary material of an apparently bipinnate frond. 

A single fragment of a pinna is contained in th'e recent 

collections. This is cut nearly to the rachis into rather 

conical obtusely pointed segments. The niidvein is 

stout, and there are three or four pairs of once-forked 

laterals proximad and about two pairs of simple laterals distad to each segment. All the material is sterile, 

so that the generic reference is somewhat uncertain. 

I can see no ground for n1aintaining the distinctness of 

Dryopteris obsc1.tra (Knowlton) Berry, which was described by Knowlton from the Esmeralda formation 

of western central Nevada. 

Occurrence: Sec. 17, T. 9 N., R. 2 W., Alkali Creek, Lewis 

County.' , 

1; Dorf, Erling, Pliocene floras of California: Carnegie Inst. Pub. 412, p. 67, pl. 5, 

figs. 1, 2, 1930. 

56891-34-2 

Phylum CONIFEROPHYTA 

Order PIN ALES 

Family CUPRESSIN ACEAE 

Genus TAXODIUM L. C. Richard 

Taxodium dubium (Sternberg) Heer 16 

This species has been discussed and illustrated in a 

number of recent publications. The leafy twigs are 

widely distributed in the Tertiary and are with difficulty distinguished from those of Sequoia. The twigs 

are frequently associated with cone scales, seeds, or 

fragments of stan1inate aments, all of which are strikingly similar to those of the modern bald cypress. 

The leafy twigs are represented at five localities in 

Idaho, at two of which cone scales occur associated 

with them and at one of these seeds also occur. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County (seeds, 

cone scales, and twigs); 1 mile and 1.1 miles east of Arrow 

Junction, Nez Perce County (twigs); 5 miles south of Juliaetta, 

Nez Perce County (twigs and cone scales); Edwards ranch, 

Stanley Hill, near St. Maries, Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai County 

(twigs). 

Taxodium, cone 

Pia te 19, figure 4 

It is unusual to find an entire Taxodium cone fossil, 

as they usually fall apart when mature. The present 

cone is essentially like that of the existing Taxodium 

distichum (Linne) Richard but is more prolate and 

slightly larger. There can scarcely be any question 

that it is a cone of the same species whose twigs are 

so abundant at this horizon and which I have referred 

to the holarctic T. dubium (Sternberg) Heer. At the 

first locality named below both seeds and twigs are 

found in association with the cone, and at the second 

locality detached cone scales are associated with the 

. twigs. 

Occurrence:_ 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County; 

5 miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. 

Genus GLYPTOSTROBUS Endlicher 

Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongniart) Heer 11 

Plate 19, figure 1 

Taxodium europaeum Brongniart, Annales sci ~ nat., vol. 30, 

p. 168, 1833. 

Glyptostrobu~ europaeus Heer, Flora, tertiaria Helvetiae, vol. 1, 

p. 51, pls. 19, 20, 1855. 

Glyptostrobus , ungeri Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. 

Rept., vol. 8, p. 139, pl. 22, figs. 1-6a, 1883 (Mascall). 

Sequoia ajfinis Lesquereu~, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., 

vol. 7, p. 75, pl. 7, figs. 3-5; pl. 65, figs. 1-4, 1878 (Florssant and Elko). 

This species has been recorded from a vast number 

of holarctic localities and Cenozoic horizons, and in all 

16 The more or less complete synonymy of this ubiquitous species has been repeatedly published in recent years and need not be given in the present connection. 

17 A rather full synonymy of this much identified form was published in U.S. 

Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, pp. 169-170, 1916. 
104 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

probability some of the identifications are erroneous. 

I would be the last to insist that the twigs or st~;tminate 

aments preserved as impressions afford conclusive 

evidence of the presence in Miocene Idaho of a species 

of this genus, whose existing representative is so 

restricted at the present time. 18 At the same time 

the ecologic redwood-association method of Chaney 

does not, it seems to me, afford any logical basis for 

questioning the former presence of Glyptostrobus in 

North America, especially as so many Cenozoic trees 

of western North America from Eocene to Pliocene 

show such unmistakable relationships with Chinese 

survivors. 

Occurrence: 11 miles east of Lewiston on north bank of Clearwater River, Nez Perce County; 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, 

Idaho County. 

Genus SEQUOIA Endlicher 

Sequoia langsdorfii (Brongniart) Heer 

Sequoia langsdorfii Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

140, p. 26, pl. 9, figs. 3-6, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 237, 1929. 

Chaney, Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 346, p. 102, 

1927. 

Dorf, Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 412, p·. 73, pl. 6, figs. 

5, 6, 1930. 

Sequoia angustifolia Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept. 

vol. 7, p. 77, pl. 7, figs. 6-10, 1878. 

This species is exceedingly common in the Idaho 

Miocene, where it is represented by quantities of 

characteristic leafy twigs. The twigs have been fully 

illustrated by Knowlton in the paper cited above. 

It is a common form, somewhat variable, and likely 

to be confused with Taxodium dubium. 

It is a very wide ranging Tertiary form, probably 

not always correctly identified. It seems that the 

form from Elko, Nev., which Lesquereux made the 

type of Sequoia angustifolia, is the same as these 

other western Miocene occurrences. Dorf records 

it from the Pliocene of California and states that 

these specimens are indistinguishable from the modern 

redwood. 

Occurrence: 11 miles east of Lewiston on north bank of 

Clearwater River, Nez Perce County; half a mile northeast, 

1 mile east, and 1.1 miles east of Arrow Junction, Nez Perce 

County; 5 miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County; 1 mile 

east and 3.8 miles east of White bird, Idaho County; Edwards 

ranch, Stanley Hill, Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai County. 

Genus LIBOCEDRUS Endlicher 

Libocedrus praedecurrens Knowlton 

Libocedrus praedecurrens Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 140, p. 28, pl. 8, fig. 8, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 237, 1929. 

This species is rather common in the Latah around 

Spokane, and some excellent specimens have come to 

18 Henry, A., and Mcintyre, M., The swamp cypresses, Glyptostrobus of China 

and Taxodium of America, with notes on allied genera: Roy. Irish Acad. Proc. 

vol. B13, pp. 9G-116, 1926. 

light since my revision of the Latah flora was published 

in 1929. It is present also at Grand Coulee, in Grant 

County, Wash. Specifically unnamed Libocedrus is recorded by Chaney from the Mascall formation in Oregon, from the Payette formation in Idaho, and from 

Trout Creek, Oreg. A Libocedrus, either this species 

or the modern Pacific L. decurrens Torrey, is recorded 

by Dorf 19 from the Pliocene of California. 

Mason 20 has recently referred the material from the 

Mascall formation to the modern species, which it may 

represent, but this is uncertain, and such a method is 

apt to lead to false conclusions. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Family ABIETINEACEAE 

Genus PINUS Linne 

Pinus monticolensis Berry 

Pinus monticolensis Berry, •U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, 

p. 238, pl. 49, figs. 5, 8, 1929. 

The present species was described as follows from 

several specimens found in the Latah formation at 

Republic and Spokane, Wash.: 

Whole fruit of medium size, ranging in length from 17 to 26 

millimeters and in maximum width from 4 to 9 millimeters. 

The inner margin is nearly straight, with the seed at the base. 

The seed is about twice as long as it is wide and but moderately 

elevated. The tip of the wing may be almost evenly rounded, 

as in the narrower specimen figured, or it may be subtruncate, 

as in the wider specimen figured. The outer wing margin 

may be but slightly rounded and subparallel with the inner 

margin, or it may flare at the top and narrow downward, in all 

specimens forming an outer margin nearly or quite to the base 

of the seed. 

These seeds are very close to those of the existing 

western white or silver pine, Pinus monticola Douglas, 

which has a wide range on a variety of soils in the 

mountains west of the Continental Divide, from southern British Columbia and northern Montana to Washington, Oregon, and California. Toward its northern 

limits it is most .common and largest in moist valleys. 

In Idaho it reaches its greatest development on gentle 

north slopes and flats. They are also comparable to 

the seeds of Pinus ponderosa Lawson, the widespread 

western yellow pine. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Pinus, needle 

A single needle of Pinus, obviously not specifically 

determinable, is associated with Libocedrus twigs and 

leaves of Quercus simulata at the locality cited. 

Occurrence: Sec. 5, T. 11 N., R. 6 W., north of Weiser, 

Washington County. 

19 Dorf, Erling, Pliocene floras of California: Carnegieinst. Washington Pub. 412, 

p. 74, 1930. 

20 Mason, H. L., Fossil records of some west American conifers: Carnegie lust. 

Washington Pub. 346, p. 155, 1927. 
MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO 105 

Phylum SPERMATOPHYTA Order LILIALES 

Class ANGIOSPERMAE Family SMILACEAE 

Subclass MONOCOTYLEDONAE Genus SMILAX Linne 

Order P AND AN ALES Smilax lamarensis Knowlton 

Family TYPHACEAE Plate 19, figure 7 

Genus TYPHA Linne 

Typha lesquereuxi Cockerell 

Typha lesquereuxi Cockerell, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 33, 

p. 307, 1906; Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull., vol. 24, p. 79, 

pl. 10, fig. 46, 1908. 

Knowlton, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 51, p. 251, 1916. 

Berry, idem, vol. 72, art. 23, p. 6, figs. 13-15, 1927. 

Chaney, Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 346, p. 107, 1927. 

Typha latissima lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., 

vol. 8, p. 141, pl. 23, figs. 4, 4a, 1883. [Not AI. Braun.] 

Spathyema? nevadensis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 21st Ann. 

Rept., pt. 2, p. 211, pl. 30, figs. 17, 18, 1900. 

Typha? sp. Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 28, 

pl. 9, fig. 11, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 239, 1929. 

Fragments of linear monocotyledonous leaves similar to the small fragment from Spokane which Knowlton tentatively referred to the genus Typha are common 

in the recent collections from both Washington and 

Idaho. It is found also in the Miocene of Wyoming, 

Colorado, Nevada, and Oregon. 

Occurrence: 1~ miles north of Arrow Junction, Nez Perce 

County; about 15 miles north of Weiser, Washington County. 

Order N AIADALES 

Family N AIADACEAE 

Genus POTAMOGETON Linne 

Potamogeton heterophylloides Berry 

Potamogeton heterophylloides Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 154, p. 240, pl. 50, figs. 1-3, 1929. 

Potamogeton sp., Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 29, pl. 10, figs. 5, 6, 1926. 

The fragment which Knowlton described from the 

Latah formation was subsequently found to represent 

a common species in these beds around Spokane. The 

leaves vary considerably in size, ranging from 3 to 8 

centimeters in length. The tip, absent iil the .type, 

is abruptly narrowed to a point. 

It resembles the existing Potamogeton heterophyllus 

Schreber, which is found nearly all over North America 

as well as in Europe. Our eastern P. nuttalli Chamisso 

and Schlechtendal has submerged leaves even more 

like the fossil. The species is sparingly represented 

in Idaho. 

Occurrence: 11 miles east of Lewiston on north bank of 

Clearwater River, Nez Perce County. 

Smilax lamarensis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 32, pt. 2, 

p. 685, pl. 121, figs. 3, 4, 1899. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 240, 1929. 

This species was described from the so-called "Miocene" of Yellowstone Park and was compared with 

the existing Smilax rotundifolia Linne and S. pseudochina Linne. It might equally be compared with S. 

hispida Muhlenberg, S. walteri Pursh, or others, but 

such comparisons have but slight ecologic or geographic 

significance. The single specimen from Idaho is as 

large as the maximum forms from Yellowstone Park, 

being 14.5 centimeters long and 8.75 centimeters in 

maximum width in the lower part. The outline is 

ovate, the apex being acute and the base broadly 

rounded or slightly cordate and conspicuously decurrent. There are three principal aerodrome primaries 

from the extreme base; outside of these are thinner 

aerodrome primaries; and if the base is unusually 

wide, as in the Idaho material, there may be a still 

thinner vein from the base on one or both sides which 

is confined to the basal part of the leaf. The species 

is a handsome one, and the only difference from the 

type is its thinner texture, if indeed the type was 

really of firm texture as described. This thinness is 

indicated by the way the primaries stand out, by the 

deformed lamina, and by the thin secondaries. A 

single small leaf of this species was found in the Latah 

for1nation at Spokane, Wash. 

Smilax has been recorded from the upper Miocene 

at Florissant, Colo., fro:tn the Eagle Creek formation 

of Oregon, and from the Mascall formation of Oregon. 

The species at Florissant is Smilax labidurommae 

Cockerell,21 a considerably· smaller deltoid form with a 

truncate base. The Eagle Creek species, S. magna 

Chaney, 22 is not very different from the Idaho form. 

The M~s~all species is S. wardii Lesquereux/3 an 

elongated hastate-sagittate leaf, very different from 

the present species. . 

This genus, with well-defined characters, goes back 

certainly as far as the early Eocene and probably to 

21 Cockerell, T. D. A., Two new plants from the Tertiary rocks of the West: 

Torreya, vol. 14, p. 135, text fig. 1, 1914. 

22 Chaney, R. W., The flora of the Eagle Creek formation: Walker Mus. Contr., 

vol. 2, no. 5, p. 161, pl. 6, fig. 1, 1920. 

23 Lesquereux, Leo, Recent determinations of fossil plants from Kentucky, Louisi· 

ana, Oregon, California, Alaska, Greenland, etc.: U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 11, 

p. 19, pl. 13, fig. 1, 1888. 
106 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

the later Cretaceous. The existing species number 

about 200 and are widely distributed, chiefly in moist 

environments, most abundantly in tropical America 

and Asia. There are about 20 species in temperate 

North America, several extending as far northward as 

southern Canada. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of White bird, Idaho County. 

Subclass DICOTYLEDONAE 

Order SALICALES 

Genus POPULUS Linne 

Populus lesquereuxi Cockerell 

Populus heeri Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., vol. 

8, p. 151, pl. 30, figs. 1-8; pl. 31, fig. 11, 1883. [Not 

Sa porta.] 

Populus lesquereuxi Cockerell, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 33, 

p. 307, 1906; Colorado Univ. Studies, vol. 3, p. 172, 

1906; Am. Naturalist, vol. 44, p. 44, fig. 8, 1910. 

Knowlton, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 51, p. 261, 1916. 

Salix inquirenda Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 32, pl. 11, figs. 1, 2, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 242, 1929; 

U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 170, p. 35, 1931. 

Kirkham and Johnson, Jour. Geology, vol. 37, p. 498, 1929. 

The Latah species named Salix inquirenda by 

Knowlton is represented at Grand Coulee, Wash., 

and in Idaho and appears to me to be identical with 

the common Florissant form which Lesquereux determined as Populus heeri Saporta but which Cockerell 

has shown to be different from that European species. 

The extremely long and stout petiole, which is preserved in much of the present material, is also confirmatory of the reference to Populus instead of to ' 

Arrow Junction, Nez Perce County; 5 miles south of Juliaetta, 

Nez Perce County; Edwards ranch, Stanley Hill, Coeur 

d'Alene, Kootenai County. 

Populus eotremu:oides Knowlton 

Populus eotremuloides Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 18th Ann. 

Rept., pt. 3, p. 725, pl. 100, figs. 1, 2; pl. 101, figs. 

1, 2, 1898. 

This somewhat inchoate form was described by 

Knowlton from the Payette formation at Marsh, 

Idaho, and as its name indicates was compared with 

the living Populus tremuloides Michaux. The fossil 

species lacks pronounced individuality, and I am not 

·at all certain that it is a 1-'opulus. 

Occurrence: 1% miles north of Arrow Junction and T. 36 N., 

R. 3 W., Nez Perce County. 

Populus sp. 

Undeterminable fragmentary leaves or what appear 

to be Populus, possibly belonging to one or the other 

of the associated named species, are present at three 

localities. 

Occurrence: About 10% and 11 miles east of Lewiston, Nez 

Perce County; 3 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Populus, bud scales 

Characteristic bud scales of Populus are not uncommon in the present collection, as well as in the 

Latah around Spokane 24 and at Grand Coulee. They 

are tru~cate at the base, acute at the tip, 1.25 to 2 

centimeters long, longitudinally veined, and of considerable thickness. They are involute, as shown by 

the splitting of specimens that have been flattened 

during fossilization. They are in every way compar-

; able with the large and more or less resinous outer 

Occurrence: 1 mile east of Whitebird, Idaho County; 5 miles .winter bud scales of the existing species and pre- south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. sumably belong to one of the species represented by 

Salix, which never has such long petioles. · 

Populus lindgreni Knowlton leaves. 

Populus lindgreni Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 18th Ann. 

Rept., pt. 3, p. 725, pl. 100, fig. 3, 1898; U.S. Geol. 

Survey Bull. 204, .' p. 29, pl. 2, fig. 1, 1902; U.S. Geol. 

Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 31, pl. 14, figs. 4-7, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. G_eol..Survey Prof. P~per 154, p. 243, 1929. 

This species, described originally from the Payette 

formation of Idaho, was subsequently recorded from 

the Mascall and Latah formations. Chaney has 

reported it recently from the Blue Mountains, Oreg., 

and Ellensburg, Wash. 

It is present in all sizes and is one of the commonest 

species in the Latah deposits around Spokane, Wash., 

and at the Idaho localities studied by Kirkham. 

Moreover, it is one of those forms with a well-marked 

individuality, making it easy to recognize, and appears 

to be a true Populus, which does not seem to be the 

case with many of the western Cenozoic species that 

have been referred to that genus. 

Occurrence: 1 mile and 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho 

County; 1 mile and 1.1 miles east and half a mile northeast of 

Occurrence: Southeas~ of Moscow, Latah County. 

Genus SALIX Linne 

Salix knowltoni Berry 1\ 

Myrica lanceolata Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Surv;ey 18th Ann. 

Rept., pt. 3, p. 724, pl. 99, figs. 5, 6, 1898. 

Kirkham and Johnson, Jour. Geology vol. 37, p. 497, '1929. 

Salix knowltoni Berry, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 72, art. 23, 

p. 9, pl. 2, fig. 1, 1927. 

This species, wrongly referred to Myrica, was 

described by Knowlton from the Payette formation 

at Shafer Creek, Boise County, Idaho, and it has also 

been recorded under its proper designation from the 

Esmeralda formation of Mineral County, Nev. The 

type material wa.s very incomplete but showed no 

features of the genas Myrica. The material from 

the Esmeralda formation, although not rare, was also 

exceedingly fragmentary. The present material adds 

24 Berry, E. W ., A revision of the flora of the Latah formation: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 154, p. 243, pl. 50, fig. 4; pl. 63, fig. 8, 1929. 
MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO 107 

little if anythlng to our ideas of this inadequate~ 

known species. 

Occurrence: 11 miles east of Lewiston on north bank of 

Clearwater River, Nez Perce County. 

Salix florissanti Knowlton and Cockerell 

Salix jlorissanti Knowlton and Cockerell, U.S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 696, p. 566, 1919. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 242, pl. 64, 

fig. 16, 1929. 

Salix amygdalaefolia Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. 

Rept., vol. 8, p. 156, pl. 31, figs. 1, 2, 1883. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 30, 1902. 

Lesquereux, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 11, p. 17, 1888. 

Cockerell, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull., vol. 24, p. 82, 1908. 

Salix bryani Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 33, pl. 12, fig. 6, 1926. 

Thls typical small, toothed willow leaf occurs in 

the Latah of W ashlngton, in the 11ascall of Oregon 

and at Florissant, Colo. ' 

Occurrence: Southeast of Moscow, Latah County: 11 miles 

east of Lewiston on north bank of Clearwater River, Nez 

Perce County. 

Order FAGALES 

Family BETULACE.(\E 

Genus OSTRYA Scopoli 

Ostrya oregoniana Chaney 

Ostrya oregoniana Chaney, Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 

346; p. 106, pl. 9, fig. 12; pl. 10, figs. 1-4, 1927. 

This species was based upon both leaves and fruits 

from the Crooked River Basin, 11 miles east of Post, 

Oreg. I have been unable to recognize certainly the 

leaves in the Idaho collections, but there are several 

characteristic examples of the involucres of the fruits. 

The foregoing are the only fossil occurrences of the 

genus known from rocks of pre-Pleistocene age in 

North America, although it has been recorded from 

several localities in the Tertiary of Europe. Four 

existing species are recognized-one of the mesophytic 

hardwood forest in southeastern North America· ' another of very local occurrence· in the canyon of the 

Colorado in Arizona at altitudes between 6 000 and ' 7,000 feet; a third in southern Europe and southwestern Asia; and the fourth in northern Japan. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Genus BETULA Linne 

Betula fairi Knowlton 

Betula fairii Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 

33, pl. 17, fig. 4, 1926. 

. Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 243, 1929. 

Betula nanoides Knowlton, op. cit., p. 34, pl. 18, fig. 2. 

I cannot see any adequate features distinguishlng 

the forms that Knowlton referred to the two species 

cited above; in ·fact, I suspect that both represent 

merely small leaves of the associated and more abundant Betula heteromorpha Knowlton. 

Occurrence: 1 mile and 1.1 miles east of Arrow Junction, 

Nez Perce County. 

Betula largei Knowlton 

Betula? largei Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 34, pl. 17, figs. 1, 2, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 244, pl. 50, 

fig. 12, 1929. 

Kirkham, Jour. Geology, vol. 38, p. 662, 1930. 

This species was described by Knowlton from the 

Latah formation of Washington and queried because 

he thought it might be an Alnus or Oorylus. It is, 

however, a Betula and very similar to the existing 

B. luminijera Winkler, of central China, which it resembles much more closely than it does any existing 

North American birches. 

Occurrence: 11 miles east of Lewiston on north bank of 

Clearwater River, Nez Perce County; near St. Maries, Kootenai County. 

Betula heteromorpha Knowlton 

Betula heteromorpha Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, 

p. 39, pl. 3, figs. 6, 7; pl. 5, fig. 1, 1902; U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140; p. 34, pl. 17, figs. 5, 6, 1926. 

Chaney, Walker Mus. Contr., vol. 2, no. 5, p. 165, 1920. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 243, 1929. 

Betula bryani Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 34, pl. 18, fig. 1, 1926. 

Kirkham and Johnson, Jour. Geology, vol. 37, p. 496, 1929. 

Betula thor Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 

35, pl. 17' fig. 3, 1926. 

Kirkham and Johnson, op. cit., p. 496. 

This species, described originally from the upper 

part of the Clarno formation of the John Day Basin 

in Oregon, is very common in the Latah formation 

and occurs also in the Eagle Creek formation. The 

forms whlch Knowlton described as Betula bryani and 

B. thor are nothlng but variants of B. heteromorpha, 

with which they are connected by insensible gradations. These leaves are separated with difficulty from 

those of some of the existing western species of Alnus. 

The variations of this Latah species of Betula can be 

matched among the leaves of the existing B. occidentalis Hooker, whlch it so closely resembles and' whicl! 

occurs along stream borders in rich soil through British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. 

Occurrence: 1 mile and 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho 

County; 1 mile and 1.1 miles east and half a mile northeast of 

Arrow Junction, Nez Perce County; near St. Maries, Kootenai County. Family FAGACEAE 

Genus FAG US Linne 

Fagus pacifica Chaney 

Plate 19, figure 6; plate 20, figure 1 

Fagus pacifica Chaney, Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 346, 

p. 108, pl. 10, figs. 6-9, 1927. 

Thls species was based on characteristic leaves and 

fruit from Miocene beds in the Crooked River Basin, 

Oregon. Leaves identical with those from Oregon, 

mostly but not always larger in size, are not uncommon 

in Idaho. 

Occurrence: Southeast of Moscow, Latah County; 10~ 

miles east of Lewiston, Nez Perce County; 3.8 miles east 

of Whitebird, Idaho County. 
108 SHORTlDR CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

Genus FAGOPSIS Hollick 

Fagopsis Iongifolia (Lesquereux) Hollick 

Fagopsis longijolia Hollick. Torreya, vol. 9, p. 2, text figs. 1, 2, 

1909. 

Knowlton, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 51, p. 265, pl. 20, 

fig. 5, 1916. . 

Chaney, Am. Jour. Sci., 5th ser., vol. 2, p. 90, 1921. 

Planera longijolia Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. and Geog. Survey 

Terr. Ann. Rept. for 1872, p. 371, 1873; U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., vol. 7, p. 189, pl. 27, figs. 4-6, 1878. 

Newberry, U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 35, p. 81, pl. 58, fig. 3, 

1898. 

Penhallow, Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., 2d ser., vol. 8, p. 70, 

1902; Report on Tertiary plants of British Columbia, 

p. 73, 1908. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 32, pt. 2, p. 712, 1899. 

Quercus semielliptica Goeppert. Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. and 

Geog. Survey Terr. Ann. Rept. for 1871, p. 286, 1872. 

Fagus longijolia (Lesquereux) Hollick and Cockerell, Am. Mus. 

Nat. Hist. Bull., vol. 24, p. 88 (footnote), 1908. 

Zelkowa longijolia (Lesquereux) Engler, in Engler and Prantl, 

Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien, Teil 3, Abt. 1, p. 65, 1888. 

Myrica oregoniana Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 

33, pl. 3, fig. 4, 1902. 

Chaney, Walker Mus. Contr., vol. 2, no. 5, p. 163, 1920. 

The finding of attached fruits by Hollick in 1909 conclusively showed these leaves to be referable to the 

Fagaceae, and it is difficult to see any reason for not 

referring them directly to the modern genus Fagus. 

Not having examined the fruits personally, I have 

retained Hollick's genus Fagopsis for the present. 

The species is represented in the Latah formation 

by small leaves, which depart from the type merely in 

having the base somewhat more oblique than in most 

of the Florissant leaves. To the same species belongs 

the form from the . Mascall formation referred by 

Knowlton to the genus Myrica. 

The species as now conceived is an abundant and 

widely ranging Miocene type in western North America, occurring- in British Columbia; at Elko station, 

Nev.; in the Yellowstone Park; in the Mascall formation of Oregon; in the Puente format~on of California; and in the Eagle Creek formation of Oregon. 

The Washington and Idaho forms are similar to 

Ulmus brownelli Lesquereux but are relatively shorter 

and wider, with less ascending secondaries a,nd lacking 

the acuminate tip. 

Occurrence: About 15 miles north of Weiser, Washington 

Couhty. 

Genus CASTANEA Adanson 

Castanea castaneaefolia (Unger) Knowlton 

Castanea ungeri Heer. Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. 

Rept., vol. 8, p. 246, pl. 52, figs. 1, 3-7, 1883. 

Knowlton, in Lindgren, Jour. Geology, vol4, p. 890, 1896; 

U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 17, p. 219, 1894; Geol, SoP-. 

America Bull., vol. 5, p. 581, 1893. 

Castanea pulchella Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 32, pt. 2, 

p. 702, pl. 86, figs. 6-8; pl. 87, figs. 1-3, 1899. 

Dryophyllum longipetiolatum Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 

32, pt. 2, p. 710, pl. 88, figs. 6, 7, 1899. 

Castanea castaneaefolia (Unger) Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 152, p. 60, 1898; U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

140, p. 35, pl. 18, figs. 7, 8; pl. 19, fig. 1, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 245, 1929. 

AI though the name of this species goes back to the 

European Fagus castaneaefolia of Unger,_ I am not p~epared to admit the identity of the Amencan form with 

that from the Old World. At the same time I do not 

think it necessary to take up a new specific name for 

the American Miocene species, especially as most 

European records are under Heer's name qastanea 

ungeri. Until a comparison of actual ma~erial from 

both hemispheres has been made the questiOn cannot 

be settled and perhaps not then. I am convinced, 

however, that, even if the leaves are not distinguishable two different botanic species are represented. 

The form that I have assigned to this species is 

widely distributed and not uncommon at several localities in Idaho. It ranges from small to very large 

leaves, and there is considerable variation in relative 

width spacing of the veins, and character of the teeth. 

I am ~uite sure that but a single species is represented 

in this material. 

As I conceive the. species it is present in the Miocene 

of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Yellowstone Park and possibly occurs in western Canada, 

from which it has been recorded by Penhallow.25 Castanea pulchella Knowlton and Dryophyllum longipetiolatum Knowlton from the Miocene of Yellowstone 

Park were differentiated from one another and from C. 

castaneaefolia (Unger) Knowlton on such variable 

features as the length of the petiole, the spacing of the 

secondaries, and the degree of extension of the marginal 

teeth, all characters which have no specific value. It 

is possible to select specimens of the le~ves of an~ of 

the existing species of Castanea that Wlll show ':1der 

limits of variation of these features. Moreover, In all 

the fossil occurrences that I have referred to C. castaneaefolia where there is an abundance of material the 

same variations are encountered. Several hundred 

Castanea leaves have been collected in the plant beds 

of Fossil Forest Ridge, in Yellowstone Park, which in 

my opinion is just the situation where all. sizes and 

variants of a single botanic species should be found. 

Moreover, it is highly improbable that there should 

be several species of the same genus living at the same 

time in a region and occupying the same environmental 

niche and even if this is conceivable it is hardly probable that the species would be distinguishable by the 

leaves. 

Occurrence: 1 mile and 2Yz miles east of Whitebird, Idaho 

County; sees. 12 and 13, T. 10 N., R. 3 W., and Linson Valley, 

Washington County; T. 36 N., R. 4 W., Nez Perce County; 

near St. Maries, Kootenai County. 

25 Penhallow, D.P., Notes on Cretaceous and Tertiary plants of Canada: Roy. 

Soc. Canada Trans., 2d ser., vol. 8, p. 69, 1902; Report on Tertiary plants of British 

Oolwnl;li~: C~na.da Geol. Survey Rept. 1013, p. 43, 1908. 
MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO 109 

Genus QUERCUS Linne 

Quercus cognata Knowlton 

Quercus cognatus Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof Paper 140, 

p. 36, pl. 20, figs. 1-4; pl. 21, figs. 1, 2, 1926. 

The form of oak to which Knowlton gave this name 

is one of the commonest types in the Latah formation 

of Washington and more rare in Idaho. As Knowlton 

has pointed out, jt approaches very closely Q. 

pseudolyrata Lesquereux,26 of the Mascall formation of 

Oregon, and Q. merriami Knowlton,27 of the Mascall 

and Latah formations. 

I can see no valid reason for discriminating Q. ·cognata and Q. merriami, and both Q. payettensis 

Knowlton 28 and Q. rusti Knowlton 29 are, I believe, 

variants of the same botanic species. The leavos of 

the lobate species of oaks are always variable, and this 

series of Miocene forms differ in relative width, number 

of lobes, and extent to which the lobes are incised or 

extended. It is also highly improbable that there 

should have been as many species of Quercus in the 

western Miocene as the literature indicates. 

Occurrence: 1 mile east of Whitebird, Idaho County; 5 miles 

south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. 

Quercus duriuscula Knowlton 

Quercus duriuscula Knowlton, U.S. Geol: Survey Bull. 204, p. 

50, pl. 8, fig. 2, 1902. 

This species was described by Knowlton from the 

Mascall formation of Oregon and was based on insufficient material. 

Similar material was found at a single locality in 

Idaho. 

Occurrence: Southeast of Moscow, Latah County. 

Quercus idahoensis Knowlton 

Quercus idahoensis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 18th Ann. 

Rept., pt. 3, p. 729, pl. 102, .fig. 4, 1898. 

Quercus horniana Kirkham and Johnson, Jour. Geology, vol 37, 

p. 497, 1929. 

This species was described by Knowlton from the 

Payette formation at Marsh, Boise County, Idaho. 

In my study of the Kirkham collection, specimens 

from one locality were compared with Quercus horniana 

Lesquereux, but I subsequently decided that they were 

closer to Q. idahoensis, although I am not at all sure 

that the two can be maintained as distinct species. 

Some of the forms from Grand Coulee, Wash., 

which I have considered to be variants of Q. mccanni 30 

are also very similar and perhaps identical. 

Occurrence: Southeast of Moscow, Latah County; 11 miles 

<east of Lewiston on north bank of Clearwater River, Nez Perce 

County. 

26 Lesquereux, Leo, Report on the fossil plants of the auriferous gravel deposits of 

the Sierra Nevada: H arvard Coli. Mus. Comp. Zoology Bull., vol. 6, no. 2, p. 8, 

pl. 2, figs. 1, 2, 1878. 

27 Knowlton, F. H., Fossil flora of the John Day Basin, Oreg.: U.S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 204, p. 49, pl. 6, figs. 6, 7; pl. 7, figs. 4, 5, 1902. 

2s Knowlton, F . H., The fossil plants of the Payette formation: U.S. Geol. Survey 

18th Ann. Rept., pt. 3. p. 730, pl. 102, fig. 9, 1898. 

21 Knowlton, F. H., Flora of the Latah formation of Spokane, Wash., and Coeur 

d'Alene, Idaho: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 36, pl. 21, figs. 3, 4, 1926. 

ao Berry, E. W., U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 170, p. 36, pl. 11, figs. 5-7, 1932. 

Quercus payettensis Knowlton 

Plate 20, figures 2, 3 

Quercus payettensis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 18th Ann. 

Rept., pt. 3, p. 730, pl. 102, fig. 9, 1898; U.S. Geol. 

Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 37, pl. 21, figs. 5-7, 1926. 

Berry, U.S.Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 246, 129. 

This species was described by Knowlton from the 

Payette formation at Jackass Creek, Boise County, 

Idaho, and occurs also in the Latah formation of 

Washington. 

It is quite obvious to any student of our western 

Miocene oaks that too many species have been recognized, especially in cases like the present, where the 

' species was founded on such meager material that the 

natural variation could not be taken into consideration. 

I believe that Quercus payettensis probably belongs to 

the same botanic species as the form that has been 

called Q. cognata, but feel that it would be unwise to 

make changes until someone undertakes a critical 

revision of all the Miocene species of Quercus of 

western North America. 

Quercus payettensis resembles the leaves of Q. 

duraznillo pinetorum Trelease, a small tree found at 

altitudes of about 6,500 feet in the 1fexican State 

of Sonora. 

Occurrence: 11 miles east of Lewiston on north bank of 

Clearwater River, Nez Perce County; 5 miles ~outh of Juliaetta, 

Nez Perce County; 1 mile east of Whitebird, Idaho County; 

Edwards ranch, Stanley Hill, Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai County. 

Quercus simulata Knowlton 

Plate 20, figure 6 

Quercus simulata Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 18th Ann. 

Rept., pt. 3, p. 728, pl. 101, figs. 3, 4, pl. 102, figs. 1, 2, 

1898; U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 38, pl. 22, 

figs. 3, 4, 1926. 

Chaney, Walker Mus. Contr., vol. 2, no. 5, p. 168, pl. 12, 

fig. 1, 1920. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 246, pl. 51, 

figs. 6, 7, 9-11, 1929; U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 170, 

p. 36, 1931. 

Salix elongata Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 32, pl. 12, fig. 4, 1926. [Not 0. Weber.] 

Quercus chaneyi Knowlton, idem, p. 38, pl. 22, fig. 1. 

Quercus praenigra Knowlton, idem, p. 37, pl. 19, fig. 6. Kirkham 

and Johnson, Jour. Geology, vol. 37, p. 497, 1929. 

This species was described by Knowlton from the 

Payette formation of Idaho and was identified by the 

same author from the Latah formation and by Chaney 

from the Eagle Creek formation. I have recently 

detected it in the Esmeralda formation of Nevada. 

It is exceedingly common and variable in both the 

Payette and Latah formations. At Grand Coulee, 

Wash., it is probably the most abundant species, and 

here again it shows its characteristic great variability, 

both in forn1 and in size. It ranges from narrowly to 

broadly lanceolate, with entire or sparingly toothed 

margins, either acuminate or bluntly tipped, and with 

the base ranging from rounded to narrowly cuneate. 

Formerly I suggested comparisons with the existing 
110 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

Quercus hypoleuca Engelmann of the West or Q. 

phellos Linne of the East. 

I have subsequently had occasion to compare this 

and our other western Miocene oaks with the existing 

species of Mexico and Central America, with the 

result that I find a great similarity between Quercus 

simulata and a group of Mexican species, many of 

them shrubs or small trees, largely described in recent 

years by Trelease. These are Q. acapulcensis Trelease, Q. obscura Trelease, Q. transmontana Trelease, 

Q. vinimea Trelease, and Q. hypoleuca Engelmann. 

All of these are forms of the western Sierra Madre. 

Quercus mexicana Humboldt and Bonpland is also 

similar to the fossil form. This is a species of the 

Mexican table-land and adjacent Cordillera. This 

resemblance between several of the oaks of the western 

Miocene and existing species of Mexico seems to be 

more than fortuitous, and I believe that it is of real 

significance. 

Occurrence: Southeast of Moscow, Latah County; 11 miles 

east of Lewiston on north bank of Clearwater River, 1 ~ miles 

north of Arrow Junction, and 5 miles south of Juliaetta, Nez 

Perce County; 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Quercus spokanensis Knowlton var. gracilis Berry, n.var. 

Plate 20, figures 4, 5 

Several specimens of this form have been collected, 

all somewhat inequilateral and thus suggesting that 

they may represent leaflets. The long, stout, curved 

petiole is opposed to such an interpretation, however, 

and the resemblance to various fossil and living species 

of Q1tercus suggests their relationship with that genus. 

They may be described as follows: Leaves of medium 

size, oval or elliptical, widest at or below the middle, 

about equally tapering to both ends, the tip acute but 

not extended, and the base cuneate. Texture subcoriaceous. 11argins fairly uniformly toothed except 

at the extreme base. Teeth somewhat variable in 

form, inequilateral dentate and almost large enough in 

the median region to merit the term lobes rather than 

teeth. Length 6.5 to 8 centimeters; maximum width 

3.25 to 4 centimeters. Petiole stout, curved, preserved for a length of 1.5 centimeters in a minimumsized leaf. Midvein stout, prominent. Secondaries 

of medium size, 9 to 12 pairs, diverging from the midvein at angles of about 45°, subparallel, uniformly 

spaced, relatively straight, and normally craspedodrome. Occasionally, as in one of the specimens 

figured, where the margin fails to develop a tooth the 

corresponding secondary may be camptodrome. Tertiaries mostly percurrent. 

This form shows sufficient resemblance to Quercus 

spokanensis Knowlton,31 of the Latah, to permit its 

description as a variety of that species. It is a smaller, 

less robust form, with more rounded teeth and more 

ascending, thinner secondaries. The two are doubtless 

at Knowlton, F. H., Flora of the Latah formation: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

4 0, p. 37, pl. 19, fig. 3, 1926. 

related. It is not like any existing western species 

known to me but does resemble the smaller leaves of 

Quercus resinosa Liebmann, of the western Sierra 

Madre region of Mexico. 

Occurrence: Locality 1, southeast of Montour, Gem County. 

Quercus treleasii Berry 

Quercus treleasii Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 

247, pl. 52, figs. 1-3, 1929; U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper, 170, p. 37, 1931. 

This species was described as follows: 

Leaves of relatively small but variable size, ovate or subelliptical in outline, somewhat narrowed distad to the obtusely 

pointed tip. Base rounded. Margins entire. Texture coriaceous. Length ranging from 3.25 to 9 centimeters. Maximum 

width ranging from 1.5 to 3 centimeters. Petiole short and 

stout. Midvein stout and prominent. Secondaries stout, 

prominent; 5 to 7 pairs diverge from the midvein at wide angles, 

pursue rather angular courses, and are camptodrome in the 

marginal region. The areolation consists of stout nervilles in 

a fine mesh. 

It is abundant in the Latah formation around 

Spokane and at Grand Coulee, Wash. Like some of 

the associated oaks, Q11ercus treleasii shows similarities 

to several existing Mexican species. These are Q. 

repanda Humboldt and Bonpland, a shrub of the 

Mexican table-land; Q. chihuahuensis Trelease and 

its varieties of the western Sierra Madre; and Q. 

lecompteana Trelease and Q. oleoides Chamisso and 

Schlechtendal, the first a shrub and the second a 

small tree, both found in the eastern Sierra Madre. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Quercus sp. Knowlton 

Quercus cup Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 

39, pl. 21, fig. 10, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 247, 1929. 

Capsules and crushed acorns of oaks are not uncommon at several localities in Washington and Idaho. 

They obviously belong to some of the species based on 

leaves, but it is entirely impossible to determine 

which ones or whether all the fruits represent a single 

species. 

Occurrence: 1 mile east of Whitebird, Idaho County; Edwards 

ranch, Stanley Hill, Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai County. 

Order URTICALES 

Family ULMACEAE 

Genus ULMUS Linne 

Ulmus speciosa Newberry, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 5, p. 507, 

1883; U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 26, p. 80, pl. 45, figs. 3-4, 

7 (not figs. 2, 5, 8), 1895 [1896]. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 53, 1902; U.S. 

Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 39, pl. 18, fig. 6, 1926. 

Penhallow, Report on Tertiary plants of British Columbia, 

p. -94, 1908. 

Chaney, Walker Mus. Contr., vol. 2, no. 5, p. 171, 1920. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 247, 1929. 

Knowlton in his preliminary account of the Latah 

flora regards the large leaves (Newberry's figs. 3 and 
MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO 111 

4) as typical for this species. The smaller leaves 

described by Newberry are referred by Chaney to 

his Eagle Creek species, Ulmus tanneri. Newberry's 

figure 2 and Quercus . pseudoamer~cana Lesquereux, 

which Knowlton united with Ulmus speciosa, differ 

from the others in the very highly developed dimorphic 

teeth and are here excluded from that species. 

Only one specimen of Ulmus speciosa was contained 

in the collections from the Latah formation studied 

by Knowlton, but it is abundant in the recent collections and occurs in all sizes and also exhibits great 

variations in marginal characters. Dentate and serrate teeth occur on the same leaf, and although there 

is a tendency for them to be simple they usually show 

some subordinate teeth, and individual specimens have 

such teeth well developed. 

The type came from the upper part of the Clarno 

formation of Oregon, and it is doubtfully recorded 

from supposed Oligocene beds in British Columbia 

and occurs also in the Eagle Creek formation of Oregon. 

It is associated in the Latah with Ulmus fruits, which 

differ from any previously described. 

Occurrence: Half a mile northeast and 1.1 miles east of Arrow 

Junction, Nez Perce County; about 4 miles southeast of White-· 

bird, Idaho County; sec. 13, T. 10 N., R. 3 W., and Linson 

Valley, ·washington County. 

Ulmus brownelli Lesquereux 

Ulmus brownelli Lesquereux U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., 

vol. 8, p. 160, pl. 28, figs. 2, 4, 1883. 

Chaney, Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 345, p. 113, 

pl. 12, figs. 3, 6-8, pl. 13, figs. 1, 3, 4, 6, 1927. 

Dorf, Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 412, p. 92, pl. 10, 

figs. 1-3, 10, 1930. 

Myrica callicomaefolia Lesquereux, op. cit., p. 146, pl. 26, 

figs. 5-14. 

Rhus? drymeja Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr. 

Ann. Rept. for 1873, p. 416, 1874. 

Ulmus hilliae Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., 

vol. 8, p. 160, pl. 28, figs. 1, 3, 1883. 

Cockerell, Am. Naturalist, vol. 44, p. 40, fig. 5, 1910. 

Callicoma microphylla Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. 

Rept., vol. 7, p. 246, pl. 43, figs. 2-4, 1878. 

Myrica drymeja Cockerell, op. cit., p. 42, fig. 6. 

Myrica oregoniana Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, 

p. 33, pl. 3, fig. 4, 1902. 

Opinions as to the precise limits of this species differ, 

and Chaney would exclude some of the synonyms 

cited above. As remarked under the discussion of 

Fagopsis longifolia, it is possible that the two have been 

confused. 

Ulmus brownelli is said to be especially characterized 

by its small size, simply serrate margin, and asymmetric base. Chaney refers certain fruits from the 

Crooked River Basin in Oregon to this species and 

emphasizes the resemblance of both leaves and fruit 

to those of the living U. panrifolia Jacquin, of northern 

China and Japan. 

As at present conceived Ulmus brownelli is known 

from Florissant, Colo. (the type locality); White River, 

'\Vyo.; Elko, Nev.; Crooked River and John Day Basin, 

Oreg.; and Pliocene at Lafayette Dam, Calif. 

Occurrence: 5 miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. 

Family MORACEAE 

Genus FICUS LINNE 

Ficus? washingtonensis Knowlton, emended 

Ficus? washingtonensis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 140, p. 40, pl. 25; pl. 26, figs. 1-3, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 248, 1929; 

U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 170, p. 37, 1931. 

This species as described by Knowlton from the 

Latah formation was based on a small amount of material. Since then a large number of specimens of all 

sizes and showing a considerable range of variation 

have been collected. Ficus is, or at least seems, 

rather anomalous in the present floral association, but 

extended search has failed to disclose a generic substitute. 

Occurrence: Cove locality 2, about 8 miles east of Weiser, 

Washington County; Edwards ranch, Stanley Hill, Coeur 

d'Alene, Kootenai County. 

Order PLATANALES 

. Family PLATANACEAE 

Genus Platanus Linne 

Platanus dissecta Lesquereux 

Plate 21, figure 2 

Platanus dissecta Lesquereux, Harvard Coll. Mus. Comp. Zoology Mem., vol. 6, no. 2, p. 13, pl. 7, fig. 12; pl. 10, figs. 

4, 5, 1878, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., vol. 8, p. 249, 

pl. 56, fig. 4, pl. 57, figs. 1, 2, 1883. . 

Knowlton, in Smith, U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Ellensburg folio (no. 86)·, p. 3, 1903. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 248, pl. 53, 

figs. 1, 2, pl. 61, 1929. 

Acer trilobatum productum (Al. Braun) Heer. Lesquereux, U.S. 

Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., vol. 8, p. 253, pl. 59, fig. 3, 1883. 

This species, described originally from the Miocene 

auriferous gravel of California, has subsequently been 

recorded from a number of localities in Washington, 

Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada. The leaves of Platanus 

d'issecta Lesquereux did not. differ appreciably from the 

leaves of the existing P. racemosa Nuttall, a large tree 

of the canyon bottoms arid alluvial stream benches 

from Shasta County on the north to Lower California 

on the south and from the foothills of the southern 

Sierra Nevada to the coast. This Recent species has 

evidently retreated to streams with the progressive 

aridity of the region and must have undoubtedly enjoyed a less restricted range in its early history. It 

may be a descendant of the Miocene Platanus dissecta. 

Occurrence: 2% miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County; sec. 

13, T. 10 N., R. 3 W., and Linson Valley, Washington County; 

sec. 17, T. 9 N., R. 2 W., Alkali Creek, Payette County; near 

St. Maries, Kootenai County. 
112 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

Order RAN ALES 

Family BERBERIDACEAE 

Genus ODOSTEMON Rafinesque 

Odostemon simplex (Newberry) Cockerell 

Plate 23, figures 1, 2 

Berberis simplex Newberry, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 5, p. 

514, 1883; U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 35, p. 97, pl. 56, fig. 

2, 1898. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 56, 1902. 

Odostemon simplex Cockerell, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull., vol. 

24, p. 91, 1908. 

Chaney, Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 346, p. 116, pl. 

14, figs. 7-9, 11, 1927; Am. Jour. Sci., vol. 4, p. 216, 1922. 

Odostemon jlorissantensis Cockerell, op. cit., p. 91. 

This species was described by Newberry from the 

beds on Bridge Creek, in the John Day Basin in Oregon, 

and he correctly recognized its existing relatives. If 

the hair-splitting taxonomists are followed in reviving 

Rafinesque's genus for the western barberries, it belongs 

in Odostemon. 

In 1908 Cockerell proposed a second species based 

upon material from Florissant, Colo., but as Chaney 

points out in recording this species from the Miocene 

beds of the Crooked River Basin in Oregon 32 the 

leaves show considerable variability, and the fancied 

differences upon which Odostemon fiorissantensis was 

erected disappear when more than one or two specimens are exan1ined. I agree with Chaney that but a 

single species has been recognized in our western Miocene. It is not uncommon in the so-called Payette at 

one of the Idaho localities and was previously recorded 

by Chaney 33 from this region. A fossil species from 

the middle Eocene (Green River) has recently been 

described by Hollick.34 

Several existing shrubby species are widely distributed in the coniferous forests from the Rocky 

Mountains to the Pacific coast, and one with smaller 

leaves occurs in the more arid parts of the Southwest. 

Occurrence: Locality 1, north of Weiser, Washington County. 

Family MENISPERMACEAE 

Genus CEBATHA Forskal 

Cebatha heteromorpha (Knowlton) Berry 

Populus heteromorpha Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

140, p. 30, pl. 12, fig. 8-·10; pl. 13, figs. 1-7; pl. 14, figs. 

1-3; pl. 15, figs. 3-5, 1926. 

Populus jairii Knowlton, idem, pl. 15, fig. 2, pl. 16, figs, 1-3. 

Kirkham and Johnson, Jour. Geology, vol. 37, p. 497~ 

1929. 

Cebatha multijormis Hollick, New York Bot. Garden Mem., vol. 

7, p. 406, pl. 38, figs. 1-6; pl. 39, figs. 1-3, 1927. 

32 Chaney, R. W., Geology and paleontology of the Crooked River Basin, with 

special reference to the Bridge Creek flora: Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 346, p. 

117, 1927. 

33 Chaney, R. W., Notes on the flora of the Payette formation [Idaho and Oregon]: 

Am. Jour. Sci., 5th ser., vol. 4, p. 216, 1922. 

3' Hollick, Arthur, New species of fossil plants from the Tertiary shales near De 

Beque, Colo.: Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 56, p. 95, pl. 2, fig. 2, 1929. 

Cissampelos dubiosa Hollick, idem, p. 408, pl. 37, figs. 4, 5, (6, 7?); 

pl. 39, fig. 4. 

Cebatha heteromorpha Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 170, 

p. 37, 1931. 

This exceedingly variable species is the most abundant form in the Latah formation both around Spokane 

and at Grand Coulee. It occurs in all sizes and shapes 

and . shows a corresponding range of variation in its 

marginal characters. These have been sufficiently 

illustrated in the large suite of specimens figured by 

Knowlton and Hollick. As Knowlton suspected, the 

forms called fairi are not distinct from the type, 

but every gradation is represented, and leaves with 

3 4 or 5 primaries are not distinctive. Every ' ' locality in the recent collections that contains one 

contains the other. Hollick, in describing the flora 

from the St. Eugene silt of British Columbia, recognized the botanic affinity of these leaves but refrained 

from including Knowlton's supposed Populus of the 

Latah formation with the British Columbia material, 

because he thought there was a great difference in age 

between the two outcrops. It has since been shown 

that the Latah is younger than Knowlton supposed it 

to be, and the evidence is fairly strong that the St. 

Eugene silt is much older than Hollick thought. 35 

The older paleobotanists referred a great many fossil 

leaves to Populus which show no relationship to that 

genus. Knowlton in his account of Populus heteromorpha recognized that it was unlike any existing 

Populus but convinced himself that it was a Populus 

because it resembled P. arctica Heer, of the early 

Tertiary, which I have shown is also not a Populus. 

Occurrence: 10~ miles east of Lewiston on north bank of 

Clearwater River, Nez Perce County, 1 mile and 1.1 miles east 

of, half a mile northeast of, and 1~ miles north of Arrow Junction, Nez Perce County; 5 miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce 

County; half a mile, 1 mile, and 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, 

Idaho County; near St. Marie ·, Kootenai County. 

Family MAGNOLIACEAE 

Genus MAGNOLIA Linne 

Magnolia dayana Cockerell 

Magnolia lanceolata Lesquereux, Harvard Coli. Mus. Comp. 

Zoology Mem., vol. 6, p. 24, pl. 6, fig. 4, 1878. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 58, f900. 

Magnolia dayana Cockerell, Am. Naturalist, vol. 44, p. 35, 1910. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 41, pl. 2±, 

fig. 3, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 250, 1929. 

This species has been recorded previously from the 

Miocene of California, the upper part of the Clarno 

formation of Oregon, the Ellensburg and Latah of 

Washington, and the supposed Eocene of southwestern 

Oregon. 

Occurrence: 1 mile east of Whitebird, Idaho County; 5 miles 

south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. Specifically undeter35 Berry, E. W., The age of the St. Eugene silt in the Kootenay Valley, British 

Columbia: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., 3d ser., vol. 23, sec. 4, pp. 47-48, 1929. 
MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO 113 

mined leaves of Magnolia which may represent this species occur 

half a mile northeast and 1 mile east of Arrow Junction, Nez 

Perce County. 

Order ROSALES 

Family ROSACEAE 

Genus AMELANCHIER Medicus 

Amelanchier scudderi Cockerell 

Amelanchier scudderi Cockerell, Torrey Bot. Club Bull .. vol. 33, 

p. 310, text fig. 4, 1906. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 252, pl. 55, 

fig. 4, 1929. 

Amelanchier grayi Chaney, Carnegie Inst. Pub. 346, p. 120, 

pl. 14, figs. 3-5, 1927. 

This species was based on a single incomplete specimen from Florissant, Colo., so that whatever variation 

was present cannot be determined. The complete 

leaves in the Latah formation around Spokane are not 

exactly like the type but are so similar that I have no 

doubt that they represent the same botanic species. 

They are relatively slightly longer and narrower and 

consequently have more secondaries; the base is 

rounded like the tip, instead of being broadly cuneate, 

and the teeth are more numerous. The Latah leaves 

were described as follows: 

Leaves almost orbicular, widest in the middle and about 

equally rounded at the apex and base. Midvein straight and 

fairly stout. Secondaries thin, 7 or 8 pairs, mostly simple, 

regularly curved and subparallel, rarely forked, camptodrome. 

Areolation typical of the genus. Lower margins entire. upper 

two-thirds with regular teeth. Teeth with a broad crenatelike 

base and an ultimate apiculate serration. Each tooth receives 

a short tertiary veinlet. 

More recently Chaney has described fron1 the Miocene beds of the Crooked River Basin in Oregon what 

he considers to be a new species. It is my impression 

that this is the same species that is represented in the 

Latah and at Florissant. The two leaves which 

Chaney figures might be considered to represent the 

extremes of variation among his specimens, and these 

differ from one another quite as much as the Florissant 

specimen differs from the Latah specimen or as either 

differs from the Crooked River material. 

This is distinctly an Amelanchier and not a Malus. 

It is close to the existing A. alnifolia Nuttall, from some 

of the leaves of which it is scarcely ,distinguishable. 

A. alnifolia is a tall shrub or small tree ranging from 

Alaska through the Coast Ranges to northern California and eastward to northern Michigan. It is 

found alike in moist valleys, meadows, and dry slopes 

but makes its best· growth in the rich bottom lands of 

the lower Columbia River and the similar meadow 

b nds around Puget Sound. 

The genus is widely distributed throughout the 

North Temperate Zone. It is abundant at Florissant. 

Occurrence: Southeast of Moscow, Latah County. 

Family HAMAMELIDACEAE 

Genus LIQUIDAMBAR Linne 

Liquidambar californicum Lesquereux, emended 

Liquidambar californicum Lesquereux, Harvard Coli. Mus. 

Comp. Zoology Mem., vol. 6, no. 2, p. 14, pl. 6, fig. 7c; 

pl. 7, figs. 3, 6, 1878. 

Chaney, Walker Mus. Contr., vol. 2, no. 5, p. 174, 1920. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 250, 1929. 

Liquidambar europaeum Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. 

Rept., vol. 8, p. 159, pl. 32, fig. 1, 1883. 

Newberry, U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 35, p. 100, pl. 47t 

figs. 1-3, 1898. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 62, 1902; 

U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 17, p. 226, 1894; Geol. Soc. 

America Bull., vol. 5, p. 585, 1893. 

Chaney, op. cit., p. 174. 

Liquidambar protensum Lesquereux, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., 

vol. 11, p. 13, pl. 8, fig. 3, 1888. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 62, 1902. 

Liquidambar sp. Knowlton, in Lindgren, Jour. Geology, vol. 4, 

p. 890, 1896. 

Liquidambar europaeum patulum Knpwlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 204, p. 62, pl. 10, fig. 5, 1902. 

Liquidambar europaeum AI. Braun. Lesquereux, U.S. Nat. 

Mus. Proc., vol. 11, p. 14, 1888. 

Liquidambar sp.? Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, 

p . 63, pl. 12, fig. 4, 1902. 

Liquidambar pachyphyllum Knowlton, idem, p. 63, pl. 9, fig.l. 

Chaney, op. cit., p. 174, pl. 15, figs. 2, 3. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 42, 

pl.22,fig.7;p1.29,fig. 1,1926. 

Liquidambar convexum Cockerell, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. BulL, 

vol. 24, p. 94, pl. 7, fig. 16, 1908. 

Liquidambar acutilobum Chanef, op. cit., p. 175, pl. 15, fig. 4. 

Knowlton recorded 5 different forms of Liquidambar from the Mascall formation, and Chaney 4 

forrns from the Eagle Creek formation. To anyone 

who has collected the leaves of our existing Liquidambar styracijlua Linne or who contemplates Heer's 

excellent figures of L. europaeum Al. Braun, from the 

Swiss Miocene, it must be obvious that there is the 

widest variation in size, degree of lobation, and relative 

proportions in the same species; son1ewhat less but 

Rtill considerable variation in texture; and still less 

variation in the marginal teeth and details of venation. 

When a variety of species, based on foliar features, 

are described from a single outcrop, such a differentiation does violence to the facts. All the western 

American Miocene leaves of Liquidambar could readily 

be matched among the material of L. europaeum from 

the type locality at Oeningen, Baden, or they could 

equally well be matched among the leaves of our 

existing sweet gum, L. styracijlua. If it is reasonable 

to conclude that the existing American species has 

not c.ome down unchanged since Tertiary time, it is 

equally unreasonable to suppose that an identical 

Miocene species inhabited Europe and western N ortb 

America. 
114 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

If Braun's name is discarded· for American forms, 

the oldest available is Liquidambar californicum Lesquereux, which I consider includes all the nominal 

species that have been referred to this genus from the 

western American Miocene. 

The n1aterial in the Latah formation, although not 

abundant, admirably illustrates the usual situation. 

Knowlton figured both 3-lobed and 5-lobed forms from 

the Latah formation as Liquidambar pachyphyllum. 

The present collection contains narrow acuminately 

lobed, 3-lobed leaves with a cuneate base and larger 

5-lobed leaves with broad lobes and a cordate base. 

The venation and the very characteristic margin are 

identical in both, and I have not the slightest doubt 

that all the Latah leaves represent a single species. 

The species, as conceived by me, is found in California, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado. Undoubtedly the fine fruit associated with the leaves in Washington and Idaho belongs to it. This too is not at 

all different from the fruits of our existing eastern 

American species. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County 

(associated with fruits); 1 mile and 1.1 miles east of Arrow 

.Junction, Nez Perce County. 

Liquidarnbar, fruit 

Liquidambar fruit Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 42, pl. 10, fig. 10, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 170, p. 38, 1931. 

Knowlton described and figured a rather well preserved fruit from the Lata4 formation at Spokane and 

suggested its probable relationship to the associated 

leaves which he identified as Liquidambar pachyphyllum Knowlton but which I regard as simply a variant 

of the common Miocene L. californicum Lesquereux. 

Subsequently additional fruits have 'been collected 

from the Latah formation in Washington. I have no 

doubt that these fruits belong to this species. 

The material from Grand Coulee, Wash., is especially 

interesting, as there are no traces of leaves in the collection and over a dozen of the fruits. In several 

specimens more or less of the peduncle is preserved. 

This is unusually stout, and in one small specimen in 

which it appears to be complete it is only 4 centimeters 

in length. The presence of fruits and no leaves may 

be explained as due to water transport of the material, 

as the fruits are dry when shed and readily float, and 

the leaves decay in water more rapidly than most 

other leaves. 

In Idaho the fruits have been found at one locality 

associated with leaves and at two localities where the 

leaves have not been discovered. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of White bird (with leaves), and 

about 4 miles southeast of White bird, Idaho County; Linson 

Valley, Washington County; 5 miles south of Juliaetta, Nez 

Perce County. 

Family CAESALPINIACEAE 

Genus CASSIA Linne 

Cassia idahoensis Knowlton 

Cassia obtusa Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 18th Ann. Rept., 

pt. 3, p. 731, pl. 100, figs. 4, 5, 1898 [not Clos, 1845]. 

Cassia idahoensis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 696, p. 146, 

1919. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 252, pl. 55, 

figs. 2, 3, 1929. 

This species was described in 1898 from the Payette 

formation at Marsh, Idaho. It is rather common at 

various localities in the Latah formation around 

Spokane, Wash. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Cassia sophoroides (Knowlton) Berry 

Phyllites sophoroides Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

140, p. 48, pl. 26, fig. 8, 1926. 

Cassia sophoroides Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, 

p. 253, pl. 56, fig. 1, 1929. 

The single imperfect specimen of this species from 

the locality at Edwards ranch, ·Stanley Hill, Coeur 

d'Alene, Idaho, was referred by Knowlton to the form 

genus Phyllites, although its leguminous character was 

recognized. These leaflets are inequilateral throughout; the petiolule is stout and about 3 millimeters 

long; the tip is usually slightly more extended than 

in Knowlton's. type. 

Although these features are shared by a large number of genera of the leguminous alliance, they conform 

to that found in many species of Cassia, both recent 

and fossil, and as this genus is one more likely to occur 

in ·this strictly temperate flora than tropical genera 

with si1nilar leaflets, I transferred it to Cassia. It 

is not u,ncommon in the Latah formation around 

Spokane, Wash. 

Occurrence: 1 mile east of Whitebird, Idaho County; 5 miles 

south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. 

Genus CERCIS Linne 

Cercis idahoensis Berry 

Plate 21, figure 1; plate 22; plate 23, figures 3-6 

Cercis idahoensis Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 57, p. 240, 

text fig. 1, pl. 9, 1931. 

Leaves prevailingly large: diameters reaching 14 

centimeters, although small ones are represented. 

Orbicular or reniform with a prevailingly rounded 

apex and a wide and more or less deeply excavated 

cordate base. Texturally the leaves appear to have 

been thin but stiff. Margins entire, but they may be 

faintly and irregularly undulate. Peticle stout, presumably long, although no specimens show a length 

of more than 2 centimeters. Venation prominent. 

Midvein stout. A stout lateral primary diverges from 
:MtOCENE PLANTS FROM ibAHO i15 

the base of the mid vein on each side; this immediately 

gives off a basal secondary on the outside, which may 

be thin and submarginal or stouter and subprimary in 

appearance; 2 to 10 millimeters farther out the lateral 

primaries fork, and each fork gives off, usually at acute 

angles, sweepingly curved secondaries; or distally the 

disposition and equal size of the two may more properly 

be called a fork. The n1idvien gives off three or four 

pairs of stout secondaries at acute angles; these ascend 

in sweeping curves and either fork distally or give off 

curved tertiary branches. All ultimate endings are 

camptodrome very close to the leaf margin. The 

internal tertiaries are well marked, transversely inosculating, frequently diminishing in the midregion to 

form veins of quaternary magnitude disposed in 

:'fiGURE 4.-Restoration of Cercis idahoensis Berry. 

isodiametric polygonal areolation, very . characteristic 

of the genus Cercis but hard to define intelligibly. 

· These leaves are exceedingly abundant near Whitebird, where they are ·-associated with the pods. The 

rather brittle matrix and the apparent brittleness of 

the leaves have prevented the reeovery of any perfect 

specimens, and the margins are seldom complete. 

However, all sizes and all parts are represented, and 

some of the smaller leaves are nearly perfect. Pods 

large, relatively wide, tapering gradually proximad, 

abruptly contracted distad to an asymmetric mucronate tip, which may be as much as 2 millimeters long, 

ventral and dorsal sutures present, the ventral 

straighter than the dorsal but more curved than in 

the existing pods of Cercis. Substance thin.. Sides 

transversely reticulate-veined; ventral w1ngs more 

obliquely veined. The fossil pods are abundant in 

association with the leaves but are usually badly 

broken. A ·nearly complete small pod· is shown in 

figure 4. The largest one seen, eomplete except at 

the proximal end, has a preserved length of 10.5 centimeters and a maximum width of 3.25 centimeters. 

The indicated length is about 12 centimeters. These 

pods agree in all their essential features with the 

living pods but are less linear in profile and also 

much larger. They are approached most nearly in 

both size and outline by the pods of the California 

redbud, Cercis occidental is Torrey, which is usually a 

chaparral shrub on gravelly or rocky soils of low 

mountain slopes, canyons, and stream borders found 

from Mendocino County and the region about 

Mount Shasta southward to San 

Diego County. Occasionally in 

favorable situations it reaches the 

size of a small tree. · 

It goes without saying that the 

species is a handsome one, and the 

size and abundance of both leaves 

and pods and the abundant associat.ed leaves of sycamore and other 

species would imply that it was an 

arborescent and not a shrubby form. 

I have eompared these leaves with 

those of all the existing species of 

Cercis. Only C. canadensis of southeastern North America and C. 

chinensis of southeastern Asia are 

normally as large as the fossil. Its 

form is approached by C. chinensis, 

as well as by the European and 

southwestern Asiatic C. siliquastrum and the western American C. 

occidentalis. The outline and venation of C. occidentalis are most like 

the fossil but are only from onefourth to one-third the size. Next 

in resemblance is 0. chinensis, with orbicular, cordate, 

abruptly pointed leaves, as large or larger than the 

fossil. The pods of C. chinensis are, however, much 

smaller .and narrower than the fossil pods-in fact, 

none of the existing species has as large or as wide 

pods. The most similar arc those of C. occidentalis 

Torrey, and these are only about half the size of the 

fossil pods, with which, however, they agree in outline, texture, and venation. 

It would seem that this western American Miocene 

Cercis stood in an ancestral relationship to the existing Cercis occidentalis, which in the less favorable 

environmental conditions that followed the Miocene 

epoch became a prevailingly shrubby form with smaller 

leaves and pods. Some relationship may also exist 

between the fossil form and the Chinese Cercis chinensis. 
116 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS '1'0 GENERAL GlnOLOGY, 1934-35 

The existing species of Oercis number 8 and are 

confined to the Southeastern States, Texas, Arizona, 

California, southern Europe, and southwestern, central, and eastern Asia. The species of the Southeastern States and China are small mesophytic trees; 

the others, particularly the California and Arizona 

species, have become reduced in response to dry, 

semiarid environments. 

The fossil species number 22 and include the existing eastern American Oercis canadensis in the Pleistocene of Canada and North Carolina and the south 

European 0. siliquastrum in the Pleistocene of France 

and Italy. The genus makes its appearance in the 

lower Eocene of the West and the Gulf States and in 

the upper Eocene of central Europe. In the later 

Tertiary its distribution was holarctic, and its postPliocene history has been one of progressive reduction 

and discontinuity in distribution. Three nominal Miocene species have been heretofore recorded from the 

western United States. These comprise a doubtfully 

determined leaf from the Esmeralda formation of westcentral Nevada, 36 fragments of pods from the Miocene 

beds of the Crooked River Basin in Oregon,37 and a 

fragment of a pod from the Latah formation near 

Spokane, W ash. 38 The only one of these at all like 

the Idaho species is the third-Oercis? spokanensis 

Knowlton. This was based on a single fragment of a 

very small and more pointed pod. I suspect that it 

may represent the same species as the Idaho fossils, 

but nothing so small has been found in the Idaho 

collections, and the type is so inadequate that no 

positive conclusions are warranted. The pod from the 

Crooked River Basin in Oregon clearly belongs to a 

different species. The small leaf from Nevada differs 

decidedly in venation from the minimum-sized leaves 

of 0. idahoensis. Long after the foregoing description 

was written E. E. Alexander, of Spokane, sent me the 

original and counterpart of a complete pod from the 

Latah formation which is identical with the pods of 0. 

idahoensis except that it is somewhat smaller, but 

which is much larger and much more inflated than 0.? 

spokanensis Knowlton. This occurrence suggests that 

0.? spokanensis F"as based on a small or abnormal pod 

of 0. idahoensis, but as Knowlton's material was so 

incomplete that it is practically unrecognizable I do not 

feel justified in taking up his· name for this very complete later material. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

36 Knowlton, F. H., U.S. Geol. Survey 21st Ann. Rept., pt. 2, p. 217, pl. 30, fig. 23, 

1900. 

37 Chaney, R. W., Geology and paleontology of the Crooked River Basin: Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 346;p. 125, pl. 15, fig. 5, 1927. 

38 Knowlton, F. H., Flora of the Latah formation: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

140, p. 43, pl. 29, fig. 9, 1926. 

Family PAPILIONACEAE 

Genus SOPHORA Linne 

Sophora spokanensis Knowlton 

Sophora spokanensis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

140, p. 44, pl. 28, fig. 6, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 253, pl. 56, 

figs. 5, 6, 1929. 

This species is common in the Latah formation and 

was characterized as follows: 

Leaflets showing considerable variation "in size and outline, 

even on a single leaf; varying from elongate-elliptical to ovatelanceolate; generally widest medially but sometimes in the 

lower half. Apex narrowly to broadly rounded and nearly equilateral. Base broadly rounded, ine~ilateral. Petiolule short 

and stout, 2 millimeters or less in length. Midvein stout, 

prominent. Secondaries thin, somewhat irregularly spaced, 

diverging from the midvein at angles of 45° or less, camptodrome. Length from 2.5 to 4.5 centimeters; a single terminal leaflet, obviously undeveloped, is 1.5 centimeters long and 

about 4 millimeters in maximum width. 

One specimen from Washington shows part of a leaf 

with eight leaflets in position; these increase in size 

and relative width as well as spacing from the tip 

toward the base. The leaf is odd-pinnate, thus conforming to the arrangement in Sophora. I much doubt 

its reference to Sophora, however, and it appears to 

me to be more probably referable to Robinia, which 

has similar, odd-pinnate leaves. It is not greatly 

different, except for its larger size, from Robinia 

brittoni Cockerell, from Florissant, Colo. I have not, 

however, changed the generic reference, preferring to 

wait for greater certainty before making the change. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County; 5 

miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. 

Sophora alexanderi Knowlton 

Sophora alexanderi Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

140, p. 43, pl. 28, figs. 3-5, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 253, pl. 56, 

fig. 7, 1929. 

This fine species is not uncommon in the Latah 

formation in Washington but thus far has been found 

only as detached leaflets. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County; 

Edwards ranch, Stanley Hill, Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai County. 

Order SAPINDALES 

Family ANACARDIACEAE 

Genus RHUS Linne 

Rhus merrilli Chaney 

Rhus merrilli Chaney, Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 346, 

p. 125, pl. 16, figs. 1, 2, 1927. 

The type of this species came from the Miocene 

beds of the Crooked River Basin, in eastern Oregon. 
M!OCENE PLANTS FROM iDAHO 117 

It is said to bear a close resemblance to Rhus sylvestris 

Seemann and Zuccarini, of centr~il and southern China 

and Chosen, and is thus another link in the community 

of relationship between the present Chinese flora and 

the Miocene flora of western North America.. It occurs 

in the Latah formation at Spokane, Wash. 

Occurrence: 1 mile east of White bird, Idaho County; 5 miles 

south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. 

·Family CELASTRACEAE 

Genus EUONYMUS Linne 

Euonymus knowltoni Berry 

Euonymus knowltoni Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Pr~f. Paper 154, 

p. 255, pl. 56, fig. 9, 1929. 

This species was described as follows from the Latah 

formation at Spokane, Wash.: 

Leaves of medium size, ovate-lanceolate. Tip acuminate, 

not greatly produced. Base broadly cuneate. Texture subcoriaceous. Margin with fine; closely spaced, inconspicuous 

serrate teeth. Length about 11 centimeters; maximum width, 

near the middle of the leaf, about 3.5 centimeters. Petiole 

not preserved. Midvein stout and prominent. Secondaries 

thin, 5 or 6 irregularly spaced pairs; diverging from the mid vein 

at angles of about 45°, more in the tip; sweeping upward in 

long ascending curves and arching along the margins. Tertiaries thin, typical of the Celastraceae, and exactly matched in 

the genus Euonymus. 

The genus makes its appearance in the basal Eocene 

but has heretofore been unknown in American postEocene deposits, although common in European deposits of later Tertiary age and present in the existing 

flora of North America, in which there are about 5 

temperate species and 5 or 6 additional in Central 

America. 

The existing species number about 65 and are widely 

distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere but 

massed in the southeastern Asiatic region. Two survive as shrubs in the moister parts of the Pacific 

coastal region. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Family ACERACEAE 

Genus ACER Linne 

Acer merriami Knowlton 

Acer merriami Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 74, 

pl. 14, fig. 7, 1902; U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 45, pl. 28, fig. 1, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 256, 1929; 

U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 170, p. 39, pl. 13, fig. 13, 

1931. 

The maples from the western Miocene are in a state 

of confusion, too many species have been described, 

and specific names have also usually been given to the 

detached fruits. The present specimens are referred 

to Acer merriami because they are decidedly threelobed and have but 3 primaries, although I do notregard either of these features as good specific characters. 

Occurrence: Southeast of Moscow, Latah County; 1.1 miles 

east and half a mile northeast of Arrow Junction, Nez Perce 

County; 5 miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. 

Acer bendirei Lesquereux 

Plate 23, figure 7 

Acer bendirei Lesquereux, U.S. Nat: Mus. Proc., vol. 11, p. 14, 

pl. 5, fig. 5; pl. 6, fig. 1; pl. 7, fig. 1; pl. 8, fig.1, 1888. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 73, 1902. 

Acer trilobatum productum Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. 

Rept., vol. 8, p. 253, pl. 59, figs. 1, 2, 4 [not 3], 1883 [not 

Heer]. 

Penhallow, Canada Geol. · Survey Rept. 1013, p. 35, 1908. 

Acer vivarium Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 32, pt. 2, p. 

735, pl. 98, fig. 4, 1899. 

Kirkham and Johnson, Jour. Geology, vol. 37, p. 496, 1929. 

This somewhat anomalous species was described by 

Lesquereux from the Mascall formation of the John 

Day Basin, Oreg., and is said to be present in the 

lVfiocene at Spanish Ranch, Calif., and on the Horsefly 

River, British Columbia. It shows considerable variation in size and form. It is essentially trilobate, with 

long, narrow ascending lobes, and some specimens have 

the peculiar auriculate base shown in Lesquereux's 

plate 7, figure 1. This is also present in smne of the 

specimens in the collection which I have studied. It 

seems probable that Acer vivarium, described by 

Knowlton from the 11iocene of Yellowstone Park, 

should be referred to this species. It bas the same 

trilobate form, with narrow ascending lateral lobes 

and ascending secondaries, the same produced aquiline 

teeth, and the sole difference is a cuneate base. 

Inasmuch as Acer·bendirei, as conceived by Lesquereux, 

shows considerable variability in the character of the 

base, there is little point in maintaining A. vivarium 

as a distinct species. This species is markedly different from A. jlorissanti Kirchner, with which it is 

often associated. 

Occurrence: T. 37 N., R. 3 W., between 5 and 6 miles south 

of Juliaetta, on west side of Potlatch River, Nez Perce County; 

1 mile east of White bird, Idaho County; near St. Maries, 

Kootenai County. 

Acer minor Knowlton 

Acer minor Knowlton, U.S. Geol: Survey Bull. 204, p. 76, pl. 14, 

· figs. 2, 3, 1902; U.S; Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 45, 

pl. 27, fig. 4, 1926. 

Berny, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 256, pl. 64, 

fig. 2, 1929. 

This species was described originally by Knowlton 

from the Mascall formation of the John Day Basin, 

Oreg., and was one of three species of fruits founded 

largely on differences of size. A very imperfect specimen from the Latah formation at Deep Creek, northwest of Spokane, was referred to this species in 1926 

by Knowlton, who remarked that maples seem to be 

rare in the Spokane area. Subsequent collections in 

this area show this not to have been the case, as both 

leaves and fruits are not at all uncommon. Presumably the present fruit represents one of the leaf species. 

One other type of maple fruit has been described from 

both the Spokane region and Idaho-Acer oregonianum 

Knowlton. This is three to four times the size of A. 

minor, with more spreading wings and less oval seed 
ii8 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

ca.vities. I have no doubt that the two represent 

different species and not merely differences in size and 

form of a single species. 

Occurrence: Southeast of Moscow, Latah County. 

Acer oregonianum Knowlton 

Plate 24, figure 1 

Acer, fruits of, Lesquereux, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 11, p. 

15, pl. 6, figs. 2, 3, 1888. 

Acer oregonianum Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 

75, pl. 13, figs. 5-8, 1902. 

Berry, U.S. ·Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 255, pl. 57, 

fig. 2; pl. 63, fig. 11, 1929. 

These rather characteristic large maple samaras 

were first noted by Lesquereux and were named by 

Knowlton in his account of the flora of the Mascall 

formation of the John Day Basin, Oreg. They have 

recently been found to be not at all uncommon in the 

Latah formation around Spokane, Wash. 

Knowlton cOinpared Acer oregonianum with the 

fruits of the existing A. macrophyllum Pursh, which 

they much resemble. They are somewhat smaller 

than these and about equally like the existing A. 

c-ircinatum Pursh. Both these modern species are 

abundant on stream banks and rich bottoms of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California, 

in areas of deep moist soil and abundant precipitation. 

Over 15 species of Acer have been described from the 

Miocene of the Pacific slope of North America, but 

there is a certain duplication in the unavoidable practice of giving different names to the leaves and fruits. 

The genus is common at Florissant, Colo., and in the 

California, 11ascall, and Eagle Creek Miocene. Chaney39 has recently figured similar fruits from the 

Bridge Creek beds of the Crooked River Basin, Oreg., 

which he refers to the leaf species A. osmonti on the 

ground that they are associated in the same stratum. 

The original specin1ens from Van Horn's ranch were 

thought by Lesquereux to belong with the leaves 

which he described as A. dimorphum. The danger 

of considering dissociated leaves and fruit as belonging to the same species, even when they are the sole 

representatives of a genus at the sarne outcrop, is 

well illustrated by the presence of these fruits in the 

Latah formation associated with the leaves of A. 

merriami Knowlton and A. chaneyi Knowlton and 

their occurrence in Idaho associated with the leaves of 

A. bendirei Lesquereux and Acer fiorissanti Kirchner. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Acer florissanti Kirchner 

Plate 24, figures 5-7 . 

Acer jlorissanti Kirchner, St. Louis Acad. Sci. Trans., vol. 8, 

p. 181, pl. 11, fig. 1, 1898. 

Cockerell, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull., vol. 24, p. 101, 1908. 

Knowlton, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 5, p. 282, 1916. 

aD Chaney, R. W., Geology and paleontology of the Crooked River Basin: Car· 

negie Inst. Washington Pub. 346, p. 126, pl. 18, fig. 9, 1927. 

Acer sp. Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, pl. 57, fig. 

6, 1929. 

This handsome species (fig. 5) has hitherto been 

unlmown outside of several localities in the Florissant 

Basin, Colo. It is exceedingly abundant in all sizes 

south of Juliaetta, Idaho, and shows considerable vari-

. ation in form. I have compared the Idaho material 

with all the species of Acer described from our western 

Miocene, of which there are too map.y and most of 

which have very indefinite lin1its. I suspect that the 

form frmn the California Miocene which Lesquereux 40 

referred to A. arcticum Heer belongs to this species. 

Although the sinuses are less deeply cut, it closely 

resen1bles the Recent A. dasycarpus in size, lobation, 

venation, and teeth. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County; 5 

miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. 

FIGURE 5.-Restoration of Acer florissanti Kirchner. 

· Acer chaneyi Knowlton 

Acer chaneyi Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 45, pl. 27' fig. 2, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 256, pl. 63, 

fig. 13, 1929. 

This species was described by Knowlton from the 

Latah formation at Spokane. The leaves are handsome, with long, slender, much cut lobes, and appear 

to be very similar to if not identical with Acer osmonti 

Knowlton/1 described from the John Day Basin and 

40 Lesquereux, Leo, Report on the fossil plants of the auriferous gravel deposits 

of the Sierra Nevada: Harvard Coll. Mus. Comp. Zoology Mem., vol. e, p. 60, 1878 • 

. n Knowlton, F. H., Fossil flora of the John Day Basin, Oreg.: U.S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 204, p. 72,· pl. 13, fig. 3, 1902. 
.MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO 119 

present also in the Crooked River Basin of Oregon.42 

·The fruits that I have called A. oregonianum are the 

same as those that Chaney refers to A. osmo'nti. 

Occurrence: 5 miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. 

Order RHAMN ALES 

Family RHAMN ACEAE 

Genus PALIURUS Jussieu 

Paliurus hesperius Berry 

Paliurus hesperius Berry, Am. Jour. Sci., 5th ser., vol. 16, p. 40, 

figs. 1-3, 1928; U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 257, 

pl. 57, fig. 1, 1929; U.S. GeoL Survey Prof. Paper 170, 

p. 39, pl. 13, figs. 1-5, 1931. 

This exceedingly interesting species was described 

as follows: 

Leaves of medium size, broadly ovate, widest below the 

middle; the apex pointed but not extended; base broadly 

rounded or slightly cordate. Texture subcoriaceous. Margins 

with closely spaced, prevailingly small, crenate teeth. Length 

about 7 centimeters; maximum width about 4.5 centimeters. 

Petiole not preserved. Midveih stout, prominent. Lateral 

primaries diverge from the base at acute angles; these are as 

stout as the midvein and curve upward and barely escape being 

aerodrome by uniting with short secondaries from the distal 

part of the midvein. The lateral primaries give off on the outside several camptodrome secondaries. The areolation is a fine 

mesh indistinctly preserved. 

These leaves are not uncommon in the Latah formation at 

Spokane; they occur sparingly at Grand Coulee and also in 

Nez Perce County, Idaho, about 85 miles east of south of 

Spokane. 

The fruits are discoidal, _peltate, pedunculate; the essential 

part depressed turbinate, the margin extended horizontally as 

a broad scarious, veined wing. The wing margin is irregularly 

sinuate. The veins are radial in direction, slightly undulate, 

and may be simple or once or twice forked. 

As preserved the whole fruit departs slightly from circular 

in outline, being about 1.2 by 1.6 centimeters in diameter. 

The type comprised two specimens which are counterparts, 

split . in the plane of the wing, which is well preserved. The 

fruit substance is gone in the central part of both specimens 

and was probably lost when the specimen was split open, since 

one counterpart shows the cast of the apical umbone above the 

wing and the other shows a cast of the proximal part below the 

wing. These are slightly deformed by pressure during fossilization but preserve the details in a remarkable way. 

The fossil agrees with the fruits of the recent species 

of Paliurus in every feature except that it is slightly 

smaller, in this respect being closest to the existing 

P. aculeatus Lamarck, although the existing forms 

show considerable variation in the size of their fruits, 

and I have not enough material to be sure of the 

limits of variation in either the existing or the fossil 

forms. The fruits of P. aculeatus which I have seen 

are more robust, with a larger essential part, which 

is much more massive proximad below the wing, with 

·the wings thicker, the venation less visible, and the 

peduncle shorter. The fossil is more like the fruits 

of P. orientalis Franchet that I have seen, in relative 

42 Chaney, R. W ., Geology and paleontology of the Crooked River Basin: Carnegie 

Inst. Washington Pub. 346, p. 126, pl. 17, fig. 6; pl. 18, figs. 1, 3, 5, 1927. 

proportions, in the thinner wing with greater visibility 

of the· veins, and in the relative length of the peduncle. 

No leaves are associated with the fossil, but at about 

the same horizon, both at this locality and in the Latah 

formation at Spokane, there are leaves of a Paliurus 

which are nearer to P. orientalis than they are to the 

other existing species. It is probable that leaves and 

fruit represent the same Miocene species. 

The genus Paliurus of Jussieu contains two or three 

existing species of shrubs or small trees with cordate or 

ovate, palmately three-veined and usually small leaves 

with stipular thorns. The fruits are coriaceous, pel tate, 

umbonate, with a horizontal marginal, radiately veined 

wing. In existing floras they are restricted to dry-soil 

habitats from Spain on the west to Japan on the east. 

Occurrence: 10~~ miles east of Lewiston on north bank of 

Clearwater River, Nez Perce County. 

0 l 

I 

Order MALVALES 

Family TILIACEAE 

Genus TILIA Linne 

Tilia hesperia Berry 

Tilia hesperia Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 

258, pl. 57, fig. 3, 1929. 

Leaves largeJ broadly ovate and inequilateral, of thin 

texture, aboutl15 or 16 centimeters in length and 9 

centimeters in maximum width below the middle. 

Apex acuminate. Base missing. Midvein stout and 

relatively straight. Secondaries stout, about 6 alternate pairs, diverging about 45°, curving upward, 

craspedodrom~, giving off one or more craspedodrome 

branches on the outside toward their tips. The basal I 

pair are not differentiated from their fellows except for 

the series of c~aspedodrome tertiaries which they give . 

off on the outJide. The inner tertiaries are regularly 

spaced, subpercurrent, frequently inosculating veins of 

considerable caliber. The margin is regularly serrate, 

with relativelj small teeth. 

This leaf is about the size of the larger leaves of the 

existing specieJ of Tilia of southeastern North America, 

from which itl differs primarily in its somewhat less 

relative width and more produced ~ip. The only western ·Tertiary ·species known to me, T. populifolia 

Lesquereux, from Florissant, is similar except that the 

basal secondaries are differentiated as lateral primaries. 

A second Miopene species, T. pedunculata Chaney, is 

based on a fruit bract of a linden from the Eagle Creek 

formation of dregon. As no foliage was discovered in 

the Eagle CreJk formation, it is possible that this fruit 

bract may represent the botanic species oi which T. 

hesperia is the! foliage. 

The genus Tilia is found at the present time widely 

distributed in the humid North Temperate Zone except 

in western ~erica, central Asia, and the Himalayan 

regwn. 

Occurrence: 

County. 

1Vz miles north of Arrow Junction, Nez Perce 

I 

I 

I 
120 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

Family MALV ACEAE 

Genus HIBISCUS Linne 

Hibiscus? occidentalis Berry 

Hibiscus? occidentalis Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, 

p. 258, pl. 64, figs. 13-15, 1929. 

Carpels small, compressed, ovate, broadly rounded 

distad, asymmetrically contracted proximad. Embryo 

nearly straight. Carpel wall finely netted-veined, with 

scarious margin about 1 millimeter wide, radially 

veined. Length about 6 millimeters. Maximum width 

about 3 millimeters. 

These objects were described from the Latah formation, where they are not uncommon. They appear to 

be definitely referable to the Malvaceae, and probably 

to the genus Hibiscus. They are as yet confined to the 

Latah and Idaho localities and are strong presun1ptive 

evidence of the conten1poraneity of these deposits. 

The genus Hibiscus, heretofore unknown in .the fossil 

state, so far as I am aware, comprises nearly 200 

Recent species, widely distributed in warm and temperate regions. 

Occurrence: T. 37 N., R . . 33 W., between 5 and 6 miles south 

of Juliaetta, on west side of Potlatch River, Nez Perce County. 

Genus MALVA Linne 

Malva? hesperia Knowlton 

Plate 24, figure 2 

Malva? hesperia Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 47, pl. 29, fig. 11, 1926. 

This species was described by Knowlton from the 

Latah formation of Washington, · in which it is not 

uncommon. It was tentatively referred to this genus 

because the carpels appeared smooth, although I very 

much doubt this determination, as the existing species 

are confined to the Old World. There is no doubt that 

it belongs in this family, but the genus remains uncertain. 

Occurrence: 1 mile east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Family TERNSTROEMIACEAE 

Genus GORDONIA Ellis 

Gordonia idahoensis (Knowlton) Ben y 

Myrica? idahoensis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 18th Ann. 

Rept., pt. 3, p. 724, pl. 99, fig. 7, 1898; U.S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 696, p. 395, 1919. 

Ternstroemites idahoensis Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

154, p. 258, pl. 58, fig. 1, 1929. 

This species was described from the Payette formation of Idaho and doubtfully referred to the genus 

Myrica by Knowlton. If the type had shown the 

venation, that it was not related to Myrica would 

have been obvious. Characteristic leaves are present 

in the Latah formation of Washington. These range 

in lengths from 6 to 10 centimeters and in maximum 

width from 1.7 to 2.6 centin1eters. The midvein 

becomes characteristically thickened and prominent in 

the lower half of the leaf. The marginal teeth show 

some variation as to size and are obsolete below. The 

secondaries are largely immersed, ·about 8 camptodrome pairs. 

Its reference to the Ternstroemiaceae was ~ecognized 

by me, and in 1929 I referred it to the form genus 

Ternstroemites. The subsequent discovery of large 

numbers of characteristic winged seeds of Gordonia 

in association with these leaves 43 warrants their 

reference to that genus. 

Gordonia has not heretofore . been recognized in the 

fossil state except from Oriental deposits of relativ~ly 

recent age (Pleistocene). In the living flora it has 

about 16 species of shrubs and trees:-2 in the coastal 

region from Virginia to Louisiana and the remainder 

in southea.stern Asia. Thus its presence in Washington 

and Idaho is another link connecting the present-day 

floras of southeastern Asia and southeastern North 

America, and, as is true of many of the associated g~nera, the Miocene seeds are more like their Asiatic 

survivors than they are like those of the survr vrng 

species in the southeastern United States. 

Occurrence: 1 mile east of Whitebird, Idaho County: 5 

miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. 

Order LA URALES 

Family LAURACEAE 

Genus tAURUS of authors 

Laurus grandis Lesquereux 

Laurus grandis Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., vol. 

8, p. 251, pl. 58, figs. 1, 3, 1883. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 32, pt. 2, p. 725, pl. 93, 

fig. 3; pl. 95, fig. 1, 1899 [not Knowlton, 1926]. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 259, pl. 58, 

fig. 3, 1929. 

This species was described by Lesquereux from the 

Miocene of California and was subsequently recorded 

by Knowlton from the Miocene of Yellowstone 

National Park and by Knowlton and me from the 

Latah formation around Spokane, Wash. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of White bird, Idaho County; 

near St. Maries, Kootenai County. 

Laurus princeps Heer 

Laurus princeps Heer, Flora tertiaria Helvetiae, vol. 2, p. 77, 

pl. 89, figs. 16, 17; pl. 90, figs. 17, 20, 1856. 

Lesquereux, U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. Rept., vol. 8, p. 250, 

pl. 58, fig. 2, 1883. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 32, pt. 2, p. 725, pl. 95, 

fig. 3, 1899. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 259, pl. 58, 

fig. 5, 1929. 

Laurus ·grandis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, 

p. 41, fig. 1, 1926. 

This species differs from Laurus grandis, with which 

it was confused by Knowlton, in the more extended tip 

43 Berry, E. W., Gordonia from the Miocene of Idaho and Wasl!Jng_tou~ A.m. Jour. 

Sci., vol. 18, pp. 429-432, 1929. 
MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO[ 

and less ascending secondaries. The specimens show Umb llularia dayana (Knowlton) Berry 

121 

some variation in these features and also vary consid- Salix dayana Knj wlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, p. 31, pl. 2, 

erably in size. figs. 9, 10, 1902; U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p. 

The type was from the European Miocene, and the 32, pl. 12,J figs. 1, 2, 1926. 

propriety of considering a western American fornl Umbellularia dayana Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, 

identical with it is highly questionable. Some of p. 

260

' pl./

58

' fig. 

4

, ·

1929· 

Heer's leaves are considerably smaller and narrower, This species, described as a willow from the Mascall 

but his plate 90, figure 20, is practically identical with formation of Oregon, was recorded by Knowlton from 

Idaho specimens so identified. Coeur d'Alene) Idaho, and by me from Spokane, Wash. 

The features are well marked and clearly lauraceous. The venation iF not that of Salix but is typically lauraThe species occurs in the auriferous gravel of Cali- eeous, and I have therefore transferred it to the genus 

fornia, is abundant in the Lata.h formation of eastern Umbellularia. I 

Washington, and probably is represented in thP Chaney 44 thinks that it is closely related to and pasMiocene of yellowstone Park. sibly identical lwith Salix calijornica Lesquereux, which 

Occurrence: 1 mile and 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho 

County; 5 miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County. 

Laurus similis Knowlton 

Laurus similis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey 20th Ann. Rept., 

pt. 3, p. 48, pl. 5, figs. 1-4, 1900. 

Chaney, Walker Mus. Contr., vol. 2, no. 5, p. 173, 1920. 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 140, p . 41, pl. 23, 

figs. 4- 6; pl. 24, fig. 2, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 259, pl. 58, 

fig. 2, 1929. 

As may be gathered from the previously figured 

material, this species, as conceived by its describer, 

exhibits considerable variability. It was originally 

described from the west side of the Cascade Range in 

Oregon and subsequently recorded by Chaney from 

the Eagle Creek formation. It is abundant in the 

Latah formation, Knowlton having recorded it from 

several localities, and several more were added by me. 

Occurrence: 10% miles east of Lewiston on north bank of 

Clearwater River, Nez Perce County; 5 miles south of Juliaetta, 

Nez Perce County; 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Genus UMBELLULARIA Nuttall 

Umbellularia lanceolata Berry 

Umbellularia lanceolata Berry, U . .S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

154, p. 260, pl. 59, fig. 1, 1929. 

Leaves mostly small, lanceolate; widest medially 

and usually slightly more tapering distad than proximad, although occasionally the reverse is true. Margins entire, sometimes faintly undulate. Texture 

coriaceous. Length 6.5 to 8.5 centimeters; maximum 

width 1.5 to 1.85 centimeters. Tip acuminate. Base 

narrowly cuneate. Petiole stout, its length unknown. 

Midvein stout, prominent. Secondaries 4 to 6 stout, 

subopposite to alternate pairs, hence widely but 

fairly regularly spaced, curved, ascending, ultimately 

camptodrome. Areolation finely meshed, lauraceous. 

This characteristic form, which was described fr~m 

the Latah formation around Spokane, Wash., differs 

from the associated Umbellularia dayana in its generally smaller size, lanceolate outline, narrower base, 

and much more ascending secondaries. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

he points out resembles the living S.lasiolepis Bentham 

and S. sessilif lia Nuttall. 

· It is an ovate-lanceolate, entire-margined form and 

lacks any ver}fl distinctive diagnostic features. 

The genus Umbellularia, represented in the living 

flora by a single species which is associated with the 

redwood ~nd which ranges from the Rogue River Valley in OregoJ southward th.rough the Coast Ranges 

and along ·the/ western slopes of the Sierra Nevada to 

the San Bernardino Mountains, is represented in the 

upper part of the Clarno formation of the-John Day 

Basin in Ore on by U. oregonensis (Knowlton and 

Cockerell) Ch~ney. 

Occurrence: Edwards ranch, Stanley Hill, Coeur d'Alene, 

Kootenai CountY; 1 mile and 1.1 miles east of Arrow Junction, 

Nez Perce County. 

Order UMBELLALES 

Family CORNACEAE 

Genus NYSSA Linne 

Nyssa hesperia Berry 

Nyssa hesperia , erry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 170, p. 42, 

pl. 13, figs. 9-11, 1931. 

Stones of dium size, prolate spheroidal or slightly 

compressed illj form, widest medially and about equally 

rounded at both ends, with about 10 prominent wide 

rounded ribs keparated by narrow deep sulci. About 

1.5 centimetets or slightly less in length and about 7.5 

millimeters in diameter. All the specimens collected 

are preserved [as casts in the clays, and they show various degrees 9f flattening. The type came from the 

Latah formation at Spokane, Wash. These stones 

are very mucTh. smaller, more rounded at the ends, and 

with fewer ribs than Nyssa magnifica (Knowlton) 

Berry 45 of thk Latah formation. They are associated 

with the lea, es described as N. knowltoni Berry 46 in 

both the Latah and the Payette. 

The stones bf ... 7\lyssa are very abundant in the earlier 

Tertiary of North America, a great variety having 

I 44 Chaney, R. W ., Cieology and paleontology of the Crooked River Basin: Carnegie 

Inst. Washington Prlb. 346, p. 103, 1927. 

45 Berry, E. W., A revision of the flora of the Latah formation: U.S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 154, p. 2q1, 1929. 

46 Idem, p. 261, pl. 59, fig. 7. 
122 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

been described from the Eocene lignites of Brandon, 

Vt., but for some reason they are much rarer in the 

later Tertiary, where we know only this species, the 

second species from the Latah and its equivalents, and 

a third species from the Cal vert Miocene of Virginia. 

But two American Miocene species based upon leaves 

are known-the one mentioned above and a second 

from the Eagle Creek and other Miocene beds in Oregon. 

Species of Nyssa based upon the stones alone are 

always of doubtful specific distinctness, and a great 

many so-called species of stones from other and very 

different horizons both in this country and abroad 

might be mentioned which resemble the present species, 

but such comparisons lack any real value . . 

· Occurrence: 2}2 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County; sec. 

121 T. 10 N., R. 3 W., below lava, Linson Valley, Washington 

County. · 

Nyssa knowltoni Berry 

Nyssa knowltoni Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 

261, pl. 59, fig. 7, 1929. 

This species was described from the Latah formation 

at Spokane, Wash., as foH.ows: 

Leaves elliptical, bluntly pointed at the apex, rounded at the 

base, of thin texture. Margins entire except for a few scattered 

blunt points ·distad. Length about 10 centimeters; maximum 

width, near the middle of the leaf, 6.5 centimeters. Petiole 

not preserved. Midvein stout, prominent, curved. Secondaries stout, 10 or 11 pairs, irregularly spaced and more crowded 

toward the base; they diverge from the midvein at wide angles 

and are camptodrome. Tertiaries mostly percurrent, thin. 

This may represent the foliage of the same botanic 

species which furnished the Nyssa fruits described 

above. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of White bird, Idaho County. 

POSITION UNCERTAIN 

Carpites menthoides Knowlton 

Carpites menthoides Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Pape 

140, p. 49, pl. 26, fig. 4, 1926. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 264, 1929. 

Specimens ranging from 1 to 2 centimeters in diaineter are cbntained in the recent collections. I regard 

their implied relationship with the Labiateae as entirely 

problematic and very improbable. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Fraxinus?, samaras 

Plate 24, figures 3, 4 

Eleven mostly fragmentary specimens of thes~ objects have been collected. They are about 4.5 centimeters long and 1 centimeter in maximum width, 

entire-margined, rounded distad and bluntly pointed 

proximad, longitudinally veined or ribbed. 

The manner in which they are broken and their 

textural appearance seem to indicate a thin, stiff, 

scarious condition. 

In size and general appearance the objects are much 

like the samaras of Fraxinus, but they show no trace 

· of the essential part of ash paddles and I regard their 

determination as such as highly problen1atic. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Calyx 

Plate 24, figure 8 

A single incomplete specimen of what appears to be 

a rotate, quinquepartite, gamosepalous calyx. The 

divisions are 5, lanceolate, keeled, and with somewhat 

thickened tips. The central region is thickened, and 

the divisions appear to be faintly netted-veined. 

The botanic affinity of this specimen is uncertain. 

Similar objects have sometimes been referred to 

Diospyros, but this seems a highly improbable relationship. They have also been referred to Porana, 

and I would not be surprised if they were ultimately 

found to be referable to some Asiatic genus of the 

Convolvulaceae. There is not enough recent material 

of this family available for comparison to make such 

a search profitable at the present time. 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of Whitebird, Idaho County. 

Phyllites payettensis Knowlton 

Phyllites obscurus Knowlton, U.S. Geol Survey 18th Ann. Rept., 

pt. 3; p. 735, pl. 99, figs. 10, 11, 1898. [Homonym, 

Hollick, 1896.] 

Phyllites payettensis Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 152, 

p. 163, 1898. 

Phyllites inexpectans Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 204, 

p. 86, pl. 16, fig. 6, 1902. 

This species was described by Knowlton from the 

Payette formation of Boise County, Idaho, and he also 

described what appears to b~ the same thing from the 

Mascall formation of the John Day Basin; Oreg. As 

none of the specimens show the venation, their generic 

relations remain unknown. They might belong to 

some ericaceous genus such as Arctostaphylos or 

Vaccinium, both of which are present in the Latah 

formation of Washington. 

Occurrence: Sec. 31, T. 13 N., R. 4 W., about 15 miles north 

of Weiser, Washington County. 
MlOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAH 123 

MOLLUSCA 

Genus LAMPSILIS Ra:finesque 

Lampsilis sp. 

Valves of Lampsilis are not uncommon in the collections. No attempt has been made to identify them 

specifically. 

Occurrence: About 22 miles northeast of Payette in Washington County. 

INSECTA 

Itonid or phylloxerid galls 

Plate 19, figure 5 

A leaf of Fagus pacijica Chaney is partly covered 

with well-developed galls of some itonid or phyllo'xerid 

form. Similar galls occur on a great variety of existing 

plants, but it is impossible to arrive at any precise 

conclusions regarding the fossil forms. I know of 

none which are exactly like the present fossil, but 

there is no point in attempting to fix its position more 

accurately . . 

Occurrence: 3.8 miles east of White bird, Idaho . County. 

I 

PISCES 

Genus LEUCISCUS Rond 

Leuciscus sp. 

Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, p. 226, pl. 49, figs. 

1, 2, 1929. I 

Spines, vertlebrae, and especially the scales of a small 

cyprinoid fis~ were found to be exceedingly common 

in the Latah formation around Spokane. These were 

naturally co$pared with Leuciscus turneri Lucas,47 

from the Esmleralda formation of Nevada, and represent the same! or a closely related form. · · 

Similar remains and identical scales are not uncom- 1 

mon in the Kirkham collections. 

Occurrence: 1 miles south of Juliaetta, Nez Perce County; 

11 miles east of Lewiston, Nez Perce County; about 15 miles . 

north of Weiser, Washington County; Cobb, Umatilla County, 

Oreg. ' 

47 Lucas, F. A., in '~urner, H. W., The Esmeralda formation: U.S. Geol. Snrv~y 

21st Ann. Rept., pt. 2, p. 223, pl. 31, 1900. 
PLATES 19-24 

125 
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

6 

2 

3 

5 

MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO. 

l. Glyptostrobus europaws (Brongniart) Heer, twig, Hl),2 milns east of Lewiston ( 2. Drlfopteris idahoensi.• Knowlton, part of pinna, Alkali Creek (p. 103). ~. Two segments of specimen shown in figure 2, enlarged to :;how form and vena 4. Taxodium, cone, 3.8 miles east of White bird (p. 103). :'> . Itonid or phylloxerid galls on a leaf of Faqus pacifica Chaney, 3.8 miles east of 6. Farms pacifica Chaney, 3.8 miles east of Whitebird (p. 107). 

7. Smila.r lamarensis Knowlton, large leaf, 3.8 miles east of Whitebird (p. 105). 

PROFESSIONAL PAPER 185 PLATE 19 

4 
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

4 

PROFESSIONAL PAPER 185 PLATE 20 

1 

MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO. 

1. Fagus pacifica Chaney, 3.8 miles east of Whitebird (p. 107). 2, 3 . Quercus payettensis Knowlton, 11 miles east of Lewiston (p. 109). 4, 5. Quercus spokanensis var. gracilis Berry, n . var., southeast of Montour (p. 110). 6. Quercu8 simutata Knowlton (Quercus chaneyi form), 3.8 miles east of Whitebird (p. 109). 

3 

6 
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 185 PLATE 21 

.2 

MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO. 

1. Cercis idahoensis Berry, base of leaf, 3.8 miles east of vVhitebird 

2. Plawnus dissecta Lesquereux, 3.8 miles east of Whitebird (p. 11 
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 185 PLATE 22 

MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO. 

1-4, Cercis idahoensis Berry (p. 114). 1, 3, Pods, 3 8 miles east of Whitebird. 2, Pod, Spokane, Wash. 4, Leaf, 3.8 miles east of Whitebird. 
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

1 

2 

MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO. 

1, 2. Odo8temon simplex (Newberry) Cockerell, north or Weiser (p. 3, 4. Cercis idahoensis Berry, leaves, 3.8 miles east of Wt:litebird (p. 5, 6. Cercis idahoensis Berry, pods, 3.8 miles east of Wh itebird. 7. Acer bendirei Lesquereux, 1 mile east of Whitebird <r•. 117). 

PROFESSIONAL PAPER 185 l'LA'l'E 23 

3 
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

1 

MIOCENE PLANTS FROM IDAHO. 

1. Acer oregonianum Knowlton, 3.8 miles east of Whitebird (p. 118). 

2. Malva? hesperia Knowlton, 1 mile east of White bird (p. 120). 

3, 4. Fraxinus?, samaras, 3.8 miles east of Whitebird (p. 122). 

5-7. Acer fioris.~anti Kirchner, 3.8 miles east of Whitebird (p. 118). 

8. Calyx, 3.8 miles east of Whitebird (p. 122). 

0 

PROFESSIONAL PAPER 185 PLATE 24