Please do not destroy or throw away this publication. lf you hav no further use 

for it write to the Geological Survey at Washington an·d ask for a f ank to return it 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INT 

Harold L. Ickes, Secretar:P" 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

W. C. Men denhall, Director 

Professional Paper 185--F 

A LOWER LANCE F,LOR LE 

FROM I-lARDING COUNTY, SOU 

BY 

EDWARD WILBER BERRY 

Shorter contributions to general geology, 1934-3 

(Pares 127-133) 

lJNiTED STATES 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFF [CE 

WASHINGTON : 19M 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D:C. - - - - - Price 5 cents 
ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

PLATES 25-27. Fossil plants from the lower Lance of Harding County, S.Dak ____________________________________________ 133 

II 
A LOWER LANCE FLORULE FROM HARDING COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA 

By EDWARD WILBER BERRY 

For the last few ·years Mr. Henry E. Lee, of Rapid 

City, S.Dak., has been sending n1e selected material 

from the lower part of the Lance formation of Hard~ 

ing County, S.Dak., the exact locality being what is 

locally known as the Jump Off, an erosion basin of the 

headwaters of the South Fork of the Grand River, 

10 miles north of the East Short Pine Hills.1 The 

matrix is a soft gray friable sandstone, and conse~ 

quently only the coarser, more resistant plants are 

preserved. In view of the coarseness of the matrix 

the preservation is excellent, although usually the 

finer details of venation are obscure. In the sands 

overlying the plant beds are thin seams of impure 

lignite. 

Our knowledge of the Lance flora r ests almost entirely upon more or less t entative determinations by 

the late F. H. Knowlton of collections made .by coal 

parties of the United States Geological Survey. None 

of these collections, so far as I know, have been critically studied, and our knowledge of the flora. is consequently very incomplete. 

Although a large amount o"f field work has been 

done in ~everal States on the various post-Montana 

and pre-Wasatch lithologic units that have been 

mapped, the question of their exact correlation and 

relationship is still unanswered and has given rise to 

great difference of opinion. In his catalog of the 

Mesozoic and Cenozoic plants of North America 

l{nowlton,2 an ardent advocate of the Tertiary age 

of the Lance and related formations, published a. 

series of floral lists o.f the Lance, f Black Buttes,.s Fort 

Union, Paskapoo, Raton, Denver, Dawson, Evanston, 

Livingston, and Hanna formations. None of the.se 

lists, except that for the Raton, were based on a monographic study, the others representing compilations 

from older workers and lists of tentative determina~ 

tions. Consequently, it has been impossible for anyone to make a precise evaluation of the.se floras . . This 

is especially true of the flora ascribed to the Lance. 

In the publication cited this formation is credited 

with 123 species~ and hardly any specimens of any 

of these have been described or figured from Lance 

material, the list merely representing identifications 

1 See Winchester, D. ~, and others, The lignite field of northwest ern 

South Dakota: U.S.Geol. Survey Bull. 627, p. 55, pl. 1, 1916. 2 Knowlton, F. H., U.S.Geol. Survey Bull. 696, 1919. 3 A dagger ( t) preceding a geologic name indicates that the name 

has been abandoned or rejected for usc in classification in publications 

of the U.S. Geological Survey. 

59019-34 

of specimens, ~any of them fragmentary, with pre viously de.scribedj species, principally from the· Fort 

Union. Thus the Lance flora so far as recorded 

shows substantirlly the same facies as the Fort Union 

and appears to differ appreciably .from the floras of 

the Denver, Dawson, and Raton along the Rocky 

~fountain front. 

With the above-mentioned limitations in mind, it 

may be said at the Lance flora is es.sentially an 

assemblage of 'trees and shrubs of the Temperate 

Zone. This re:u1ains true even though it is recog·· 

nized that many of the older determinations are 

1nisleading. [ 

It has always been a matter of surprise that the 

floras of the nver, Daw.son, Raton, and other formations along e Rocky Mountain front had so much 

more in comrrwh with those of the Mississippi Gulf 

embayment tha~ that · of the Lance, for it semns 

impossible to ostulate climatic or other environmental factors that would cause such a difference 

and, whatever , aybe the exact place o.f these western 

flora.s in world chronology, everyone is, I think, in 

agreement that there is slight if any age difference 

between them. 

I have no solu)tion for this problem, nor do I believe 

its solution _is possible until all the floras in question 

shall have been critically studied by modern methods, 

a1though I havJ a suspicion that many of the present 

differences willil disappear when identifications are 

revised. 

The lower Lance flora from Harding County is too 

meager for ext nded comment, as but 10 species are 

described in th~ present paper. These species are as 

follows: · 

Ooniferophyta : 

Pinales: 

Cupre sinaceae : 

Sequoia nordenskiOldi Heer. 

Angiospermae : 

Monocot ledo ae : 

Scitaminates : 

Cann ceae : . 

Canna cf. C. inagnifolia Knowlton. 

Arecales : l · 

Areca eae: 

balites cf. S. ungeri (Lesquereux} Knowlton. 

Dicotyledonae: I 

Salicales: 

Salicaceae : 

St lix lancensis Berry, 

127 
128 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1934-35 

Angiospermae--Continued. 

Dicoty ledonae--Con tinued. 

Ranales: 

Magnoliaceae: 

Magnolia dakotana Berry. 

Rhamnales: 

Rhamnaceae: 

Rhamnites knowltoni :Berry. 

Vitaceae: 

Vitis dakotana Berry. 

Laurales: 

Lauraceae: 

Laurus wardiana Knowlton. · 

Gentianales : 

Oleaceae: 

Fraxinus leii Berry. 

Position uncertain: 

Carpites lakesii. 

An undeterminable species of Sapind'lf)S and :fragments o:f still other species generically unidentifiable 

are also present. As will be seen :from the :foregoing 

list the 10 species represent as many . genera in 9 :fam-

. ilies and 8 orders. Nine o:f them are angiosperms, and · 

o:f these 2 are monocotyledons and 7 are dicotyledons. 

All the dicotyledons belong to the choripetalous division except the Frawinus. 

When these are compared with the floral list compiled :for the Lance, but 2 o:f the 10 named species are 

found in that list. These are Sabalites c:f. S. ungeri 

and Sequoia nordenskioldi. The Sabalites is one of 

those fan palms whose specific identity cannot 'be established with certainty and which have a recorded geo-

.logic range from the Upper Cretaceous (Medicine Bow 

and V ermejo :formations) to the Raton and Fort 

Union :formations. The Sequoia, more certainly determined, also ranges from the Upper Cretaceous 

(Estevan formation) to the Fort Union and Arctic 

Eocene. 

Furthermore, o:f the 10 named species :from Harding 

County, the following 5 occur in undoubted Cretaceous 

beds: 

Canna cf. C. magnifolia (Vermejo) 

Carpites lakesii (Laramie) 

Laurus wardiana (Laramie) 

Sabalites cf. S. ungeri (Medicine Bow, Vermejo) 

Sequoia nordenskiOldi (Estevan) 

vVhatever may be the contrast between the Lance 

flora as a whole and the admitted Cretaceous flora, 

certainly a florule of 10 species, of which 4 are new 

and 5 others are known in Cretaceous beds, cannot be 

said to show a very striking non-Cretaceous and 

Eocene :facies. . 

Comparison of the Harding County species with 

the flora recorded from the Fort Urn'on or its sup:-

posed equivalents (Paskapoo, Ravenscrag) shows that 

but 4 of the 10 occur in these formations. This Lance 

florule is there:fore somewhat more like Cretaceous 

floras than it is like F_ort Union floras. 

One species o:f the present florule is found in the 

White Mud formation of western Canada, 1 in the 

Animas formation, 2 in the Denver formation, and 3 

in the Raton formation. The detailed ranges o:f· all 

these species in other formations than the Lance are 

shown in the :following table: 

Occurrence of Lance jlorule of Harding County in other formations 

"0 d, ~ ~ d, r:l ~ d, r:l<D tls <I) 

"0 r:l or:l r:l r:l 0 El ·c;o .s ·El .9 El El r:l -~ 0 r:l 0 r:l ~ .... r:l 0 

~ .... .s 1ii .s .s 0 r:l..., 0 

~ 0 

~ o<D Pot» ~ ~ p~ ~ 0 .s ~ oo d .s ...,!::: ~ o:>r:l ~ <I) 

~ Or:l 

~ ...,0 El El Cl:l El r:l El 1-oCI:I 

r:l§ «l,.n ~:8 r:lr:l "'r:l tl)r:l .......... .... ~ c:::-r:l ~ .s t-....:1 oo ::So e10 O'Q) .... .s '-'0 .... o·~ 

~g <I)CI:I ·a~ 0 ~~ .... ~ .s "'">- .s ~~ .s 0 "iilEl 

-~ ...,..., -~ El 0 o"" 0 .s r::l r:l ' 5o ~ p §' ~ ~ 'S ~ ~ ·s Cl:l ~ Cl:l ·f.t= -~ ~~ ;e .s <I) El .a g;~ El r:l ~ 0 

~ I> p. .... .., ~ :E I> r:l 0 "0 0 

<1)0 ~ Q.) 

~ Cl:l ·a Q.)CI:IP-4 Q.) ~ 1ii ~ :;:::: 

~ ...:1 ~ A ~ r.. Pot 1::: ~ -< ~ A > ~ 1::: -< r::l ---------------------------------- Canna cf. C. magnifolia _______________________________ ---- ____________________________ X X _______________ _ 

~:~if!~~ 1~fi~ ~ = = = = = = = = = = = = = ~ = = = = = = = = = = = = = _ ~ _ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = -X - = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Laurus 

Magnolia 

wardiana _________________________ X ____________________________________ X . ________ X ___________ _ dakotana __________ ._ _______________________________________________________________________________ _ Rhamnites knowltonL________________ ____ ____ ? ? ____ ____ ? ________ X ____ X ____ X ---- X _______ _ Sabalites cf. S. ungeri_ ________________ X ________ -.--- X ? ________________________ X X _______________ _ Salix lane en sis_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ? ___________________________ _ 

~1£i~ j:k'o~~,:'~~~~~~!::::::::::::::::: -~- :::: :::: :::: :::: -~- -~- -?(- -~- :::: :::: :::: :::: :::: :::: ====1-~- -~-

I have also tabulated below the number o:f species 

in the more prominent genera or groups in several 

comparable floras. It is not without interest that of 

the 14 genera and the groups of ferns, gymnosperms, 

a~d palms listed in the table, none of the genera and 

but a single gymnosperm and a single palm are repre-

$~Pted in the tlor1.1le under disc-q~sion. 'l'o 13how the 

contrast with the lower Eocene of the Mississippi Gulf 

embayment I have introduced the corresponding statistics for the Wilcox Eocene. This really gives but a 

slight idea of the real contrast, because there are scores 

of genera and literally several hundred species in the 

lower Eocene of the Southern States that are wholly 

unrepresented in the floras of .the Western Interior. 
A LOWER LANCE FLORU LE FROM SOUTH DAKOTA 129 

Genera or groups in the Lance formation represented in other formations 

I 

L I Deposits I . . I Fort ance at Black Denver Dawson Evans- L1 Hanna Union Paska- Ravens- Raton Wilcox fo~ma- Buttes fo~ma- · arkose ton ~or- ston ,f_rtr- fo~ma- forma- poo for- crag for- forma- forma- twn Wyo.' tJon matwn matur twn tion mation mation tion tion 

_Ar_a_l-ia _____ -_-_-_-_ -__ - _-_-_-__ -_-_-_-_-__ - _-_-_-_-__ - _-_-_-_-_ ---l---5 --1-== J --7---.-2---2-- _-2----4 

Betula_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 _ _ _ _ _ _ 3 _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 __ __ rl _ 5 ______ __ _______________ _ 

Celastrus___ ____ ___________ __ ___ ___ ____ 6 3 ____ __ ______ 10 ____ __ 3 2 6 

Corylus___ ___ _____ __ __ _______ ____ __ ___ 2 ___ ___ ______ --- 5 I 3 ______ __ ______ ___ _ 

Ferns-----~--- -- --- -- -- --- --- 3 1 9 8 · 1 11 4 3 7 15 

Ficus ________ __ --- --- ~----- -- ~ 8 14 12 2 ----h- 1 8 ______ 3 17 25 

Juglans_______________ ~f~1~~~~~~s======= == === ____________ == _

==== ____ 3 2 

2 - ---2--~ 5

1 

~ - ---1-- i 2 -_---1 ___ 

~ 

r_ - 1 1~ 6 5 4 . -- ~~-1 1 2~ 1 ~~~~~J 10 2

4 ~ Palms ___ . ________ ____ ___ ________ _______ 5 1 11 3 I 1 1(?) 11 7 

Platanus _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 9 4 6 5 = = = = r = 3 6 - - - -2- · 4 9 1 

Populus__ __________ __ ______ ____ ___ ___ _ 13 1 12 1 1 __ __ _ 5 25 6 1 2 _____ _ Pterospermi tes _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3 _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 _ _ _ _ _ _ 4 _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____ _ 

~h:~~~~~~===== ===== ===== ========== 4 4 271 2 2 1 1--- ~ 2 4 2----5 -- 4 4 2 6 8 - ----- Viburnum_________ ___ _____ ___ _________ 6 3 3 ______ _ __ _ L_ 20 11 6 5 _____ _ 

As I have already stated, I am not prepared to sug- ~[ bclass MONOCOTYLEDONAE 

gest an explanation of the facts above presented, but Order SCITAMINALES 

it is clear that the problem of the floras of the latest 

Cretaceous and earliest Tertiary in the Western In tenor IS by no means settled, nor solvable without a 

large amount of additional work; and that many of 

our stock traditions as to what they are and what they 

mean in terms of age or environment are quite as 

ljkely to prove erroneous as to prove correct. 

Order CONIFERALES 

Genus SEQUOIA Endlicher 

Sequoia nordenskiOldi Beer 

Scqtt-oia nordenslvioldi H eer, Die Miocene Flora und Fauna 

Spitzbergens : Flora fossilis arctica, Band 2, Abt. 3, p. 

36, pl. 2, fig. 13b ; pl. 4, figs. 1, 4-38, 1870. 

Newberry, U.S. Geol. Survey Mon. 35, p. 2'0, pl. 26, fig. 4, 

1898. 

Knowlton, Washington Acad. Sci. Jour., vol. 11, pp. 185, 

189, 190, 198, 203, 2:11, 213, 214, 19091

• 

This species was originally described by Heer from 

the so-called "Miocene of Spitsbergen", and it has 

since been recorded from Greenland, Saskatchewan, and 

Alberta, and commonly and widely in the Lance and 

Fort Union of the western United States. The specific limits of remains of this sort a.re impossible of 

evaluation, and I feel sure that both in the A~ctic and 

in the western interior of the United States what 

has been called Sequoia brevif olia Heer has often been 

confused with the present species. Both leafy twigs 

and cones occur Ill the lower Lance of Harding 

County. 

59019--...,34-2 

Cam a cf. C. magnifolia Knowlton 

Unn1istakabl~ fragments of the leaves of Oanna I 

are present in tpe lower Lance of Harding County. I 

was disposed at[_first to compare them with the Wilcox 

species Oanna eocenica Berry,4 but now think that they 

more probably j represent Oanna magnifolia Knowlton. 5 Several species of 0 anna have · been described 

in recent yearsJ and unless the material is unusually 

well preserved is practically impossible to differentiate them. ,I · 

0 anna 1nagn folia comes from the V ermej o :formation of Coloradb. There is a second somewhat- doubt-

.ful species In the Puget group of Vancouver and 

three species in the lower, middle, and upper Eocene 

of the Gulf Co ~stal Plain. 

Order ARECALES 

Family ARECACEAE 

ienus SABALITES Saporta 

Sabalites cf. S. ungeri (Lesquereux) Knowlton 

Remains of Ia fan palm probably represent this 

species, which as been referr~d successively to Geo4 Berry, E. W., T 11e lower Eocene floras of southeastern North America: U.S.Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, p. 181, pl. 15, figs. 7, 8, 1916. 

s Knowlton, F. n.J Geology and paleontology of t he Raton Mesa and 

other regions in C<#orado and New Mexico. U.S.Geol. Survey PrQf. 

Paper 101, p. 254, p , 8f;l.,, fi~. 3, 1917 [1918]_. 
130 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 19 3 4-3 5 

nomites and Sabal. It occurs in the Vermejo and 

Raton formations of New Mexico and is especially 

abundant in the Raton in that State and the adjacent 

part of Colorado. 

The recognition of genera of fossil palms .and 

even more so of species is often highly dubious, and 

it is possible that the present remains may represent 

what has been called Sabal grandifolia Newberry, 

a nominal Lance and Fort Union species,· or Sabal 

eooenica (Lesquereux) Knowlton, ·a common postLaramie species in Wyoming, Colorado, and New 

Mexico. 

Subclass DICOTYLEDONAE 

Order SALICALES 

Family SALICACEAE · 

Genus SALIX Linne 

Salix lancensis Berry, n. sp. 

Plate 25, figure 8 

I have compared the 1naterial from the lower Lance 

with all the described late Cretaceous and early Tertiary species of Salim, and it appears to be new. The 

material is so scanty, however, that diagnosis is attempted with a great deal of hesitation, although it . 

has more definite generic characters than most of the 

numerous lanceolate leaves that. authors have referred 

to this genus. 

Leaves linear-lanceolate, about 9 centimeters in 

length by 10 to 13 millimeters in maximum width, 

which is in the lower half of the leaf. Texture subcoriaceous. Margin with small closely spaced serrate 

t<>eth. Apex acuminate. Base abruptly and slightly 

round pointed. Midvein stout and prominent. Secondaries thin, closely spaced, ascending, camptodrome. 

I suspect that the leaves from the beds of Fort 

Union age in the Yellowstone Park, which Knowlton 6 

1·eferred to Saliw lavateri Heer, represent this species, 

as it somewhat resembles that European Miocene f~rm 

but is smaller and with pointed instead of rounded 

teeth. In looking over the records of SaZiw lavateri 

it is clear that the specimens from Alaska 7 and Greenland 8 which Heer referred to that species are not like 

one another and neither belongs to the same species 

us the European leaves. 

6 Knowlton, F. H., Fossil flora of the Yellowstone National Park: 

U.S.Geol. Survey Mon. 32, p. 697, 1899. 7 Heer, Oswald, Flora fossilis alaskana : Flora fossilis arctica, Band 

2, Abt. 2, p. 27, pl. 2, fig. 10, 1869. 8 ·Heer, . Oswald, Die fossil~ F~o:r.a Grop.l!inds1 pt. ;2; Idem, Band ·7, 

.P· 76, pl. 67, fig. 5, 1883: 

Order RANALES 

Family MAGNOLIACEAE 

Genus MAGNOLIA Linne 

Magnolia dakotana Beny, n. sp. 

Plate 25, figures 6, 7 

Leaves relatively small, broadly ovate and tending 

to be slightly cordate, about 10 centimeters in length 

and 6 centimeters in maximum width, near the middle 

of the leaf. Margin entire but inclined to be more or 

less undulate, especially proximad. The leaf substance 

is not thick but appears to have been stiff. Midvein 

stout. Secondaries thin, seen only from the upper 

side of the leaf, but probably not prominent on the 

under side. About 10 pairs diverge from the midvein · 

at wide angles, prevailingly camptodrome well within 

the margins ; the tertiary branches from the superjacent secondaries, .with which the camptodrome arches 

connect, are oblique, sometimes ·sufficiently so to give 

the secondary a :fo~ked appearance. In the basal half 

of the leaf two adjacent secondaries may unite in a 

loop halfway between the midvein and the margin and 

give off two curved branches, neither of ~hich is coincident with the basal half. ·Tertiary veins indistinct, 

the main nervilles thin, mostly oblique percurrent, the 

areolation open. 

This leaf is referred to Magnolia with some hesitation and after comparison with a large number of 

recent genera. It has the general proportions of a 

number of extinct· leaves which have been referred to 

this genus and ·also a venation of several of these-for· 

example, lJ!Ja.gnolia lon[Jifolia Newberry. I have seen 

no recent species exactly similar. On the other hand, 

the fossil is more like the recent leaves in this genus 

than it is like the recent leaves of such genera as 

Anona, Nyssa, Ficus, and Aristolochia, to which paleobotanists have referred similar leaves and an enumera-· 

tion of which would serve no useful purpose. 

Order RHAMNALES 

Family VITACEAE 

Genus VITIS Linne 

Vitis dakotana Berry, n. sp. 

Plate 26, figures 4-6; plate 27 

Leaves showing wide variation in size, outline, and 

marginal characters. Slightly trilobate or entire, with 

an abrupt or extended tip and a deeply cordate base, 
A LOWER LANCE FLORULE FROM SOUTH DAKOTA 131 

Margins with prominent serrate, abruptly pointed 

teeth, directed outward and small or large: these may 

be essentially of one size all around the margin, or 

some may be much larger than others. Some of the 

leaves are almost orbicular or elliptical cordate; others ; 

are slightly sublobate by the greater prominence· of the 

teeth at the ends of the lateral primaries or at the ; 

ends of some of the secondaries; others have distinct · 

sinuses dividing the leaf into a terminal and two 1 

lateral lobes, but. the sinuses are never deep and are 

as _a rule unequally developed on the two sides. The 

texture is subcoriaceous, and the manner of preserva- , 

tion suggests that the under surfaces were tomentose. 

Length 8 to 19 centimeters; maximum width 6 to 15 : 

centimeters. Petiole frequently broken a way, very ' 

stout and presumably long, preserved for a length of · 

5 centimeters in one specimen. j.Midvein stout and 

prominent. Lateral primaries diverging from the 

mid vein at the top of the petiole ~ at angles of 45 or 

less, stout. Secondaries stout, om nent, craspedodrome. Tertia:t;ies relatively stou)t, as shown in the 

accompanying illustrations. · 

This is one of the commonest species at this outcrop 

and, I believe, represents a single botanic species, 

~;]_though several might be described 'from the material, 

as no two leaves are exactly alike. They all have the 1 

same facies, however, and are unmistakably grapes 

and not Ampelorpsis or any of the related genera of 

the Vitaceae. It has also been found in some abundance in the white mud formation of the Cypress 

Hills region in western Canada. . 1 

Many of the leaves show leaf lls greatly resembling those produced by PhyllowerJ, and figure 4 illus- 1 

trates such a specimen. These galls are a pproxi- ' 

mately circular, about 2 millimeters in diameter and 

located away from the veins. Professor Cockerell, to 

whom Mr. Lee sent some specimens, is much impressed 

with the similarity of the fossils and the work of the ~ 

modern P hylloihera and thinks he 9an distinguish the 1 

ostioles. He also calls attention :to certain of th~ 

grape leaves with roundish perfor~tions 2 to 4 millimeters in diameter which greatly ,resemble the work 

of the larvae of I ncwrvaria, one o~ the Lepidoptera. 

Over 40 fossil species of Vitis h~ve been described, 

but many of them probably repre~ent Ampdop'Sis or 

Plata11!1J)8. The earliest of these is ~very questionable 

identification from the late Cretadeous Vermejo formation of New ~1exico, whi~h is certainly too doubtful 

to establish the presence of V itis in ;that region at that 

tjme. Eocene species to the numb~r of about 12 have 

been described. Among these are ~e ds from England . i 

~nd the Arctic which appear characteristic. No species are recorded from the Laramie, Denver, Lance, 

or Fort Union, fthe sp~cies from Fort Union described 

by Ward havinp- been subsequently referred to Am.pelopsis. One s~ecies was based on seeds from Black 

Buttes, Wyo., but it is not especially convincing. 

Knowlton recorded 4 species from the Raton formation, but these also are not conclusive. The known 

Oligocene species are all European, and the genus 

was evidently ]widespread and abundant throughout 

the later Terti, ry and the Pleistocene. 

The existing II species are numerous and are confined 

to the Northern Hemisphere. Many might be mentioned as showing points of resemblance to the present 

fossil species, but their leaves are in general so variable 

that such comparisons lack any significance. The 

Asiatic species Jj Vitis a1111Ull'ensis and V. thwnbergi impress me as bef g simil~r, but this resem~lance probably lacks any Fenetic significance. . 

Family RHAMNACEAE 

Genus RHAMNITES Forbes 

Rhamnites knowltoni Berry 

Plate 2:6, figure 1 

Oornus studeri 11squereux, U.S. Geol. and G~og. Survey Terr. 

Rept. for f 871, p. 29·3, 1872; . U.S. Geol. Survey Terr. 

Rept., vol. 7, p. 244, pl. 42, fig!;!. 4, 5, 1878. [Not Heer.] 

Knowlton, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 101, p. 342, pl. 

109, fig. 2, 1~; U.S . . Geol. Sur~ey _Prof. faper 134 •. p. 

' 94, pl. 13, g. 2; pl. 15·, fig. 1, 1924. . 

Berry, U.S. eol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, p. 33l, pl. 68, 

. fig. 3, 19161; Nat. Mus. Canada Bull. 63, p. 25·, 1930. 

Rnamnites know tond Berry, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

131, :p. 16, ])L 12, fig. 7, 1924. 

The fossil Ibaves :from American early Tertiary 

localities represented by the citations given above were 

long confused with the European Miocene species 

Oornus studeri Heer. They appear to me to be more 

closely allied t Rhamn1JJ8 than to 0 01'11/U8 and are not 

uncommon in he Animas, Denver, and Raton formations of the western United States and in the Ravenscrag formatiob of western Canada. The species 

occurs also in the Wilcox of the Gulf Coastal Plain. 

Frag1nentary specimens are not at· all uncommon in 

the lower Lanbe of Harding County, S.D.ak. These 

are not very istant from the Paskapoo and Livingston leaves d those from Point of Rocks, Wyo., 

which have bj en referred (wrongly) by Lesquereu. x 

and Penhall~.J to the European specie~ 0 qrnus rhammifolia 0~ W el)err · - · 
132 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 19 3 4-3 5 

Order LA URALES 

Family LA URACEAE 

Genus LAURUS of authors 

Laurus wardiana Knowlton 

Plate 26, figure 3 

Lam·us ocoteoides Lesquereux, U.S.Geol. Survey '_rerr. Rept., 

vol. 7, p. 2'15, pl. 36, fig. 10, 18'78. [Not Massalongo, 

1858.] 

Laurus wardiCl!YI;a Knowlton, U.S.Geol. Survey Bull. 152, p. 129, 

1898; U.S.Geol. Survey Bull. 696, p. 350, 1919; U.S.GeoL 

Survey Prof. Paper 130, p. 144, pl. 16, fig. 1, 1922. 

Berry, U.S.Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 91, p. 13, 1916. 

This species was described by Lesquereux from the 

typical Laramie at Golden, Colo., where it does not 

seem to have been especially common. It was redescribed by me in a description of Eocene floras published in 1916, to which the reader is referred for 

details. Broken specimens are not uncommon in the 

Midway or early Wilcox of Bexar County, Tex. It 

was recorded by Knowlton in 1919 from the Dawson 

arkose near Mosley, Colo., but the name does not appear in Knowlton's posthumous account of the Denver 

flora, 9 and what disposition he finally made of the 

Dawson material is unknown, although I surmise that 

it may be included in what is called "Lauru-s primigenia" in that work. 

As commonly used by paleobotanists the genus 

Laurus is not applied to the existing species but is 

treated as a form genus for members of the Lauraceae 

about which there is some doubt as to genus. With 

abundant material it is often possible to refer such 

specimens to an existing genus. In the present case 

.LawruJS wardiana cannot be certainly distinguished 

from the leaves of a number of existing genera such as 

N ect(JfJU]ra, Oreodaplvne, and M espilodaP'hne. 

Order GENTIANALES 

Family OLEACEAE 

Genus FRAXINUS Linne 

Fraxinus leii Berry, n. sp. 

Plate 25, figures 1-5 

Leaflets relatively narrow and elongated, often falcate, lanceolate, slightly inequilateral, with acuminate 

tips and rounded-cuneate bases, petiolulate. Margins 

entire at base; above with somewhat variable and ir11 Knowlton, F. H., The flora of the Denver and associated formations pf Color~tdo: U.S~G~ol 1 Surve;v P~·oL Paper 155, :J-!130~ · 

regularly spaced serrate teeth directed upward, often 

so finely pointed and extended as almost to deserve 

the tern1 spinous-serrate, though not thickened like 

true spines. Texture subcoriaceous. Length 5.5 to 13 

centimeters; maximum width 1.25 to 3.25 centimeters. 

Petiolule usually not preserved, short and stout, not 

over 7 millimeters in length. Mid vein stout and prominent·. Secondaries relatively thin, subparallel, camptodrome. Tertiaries obscure except for the tertiary 

veinlets entering the marginal teeth. The species is 

named for the collector, Henry E. Lee, of Rapid City, 

S.Dak. It has subsequently been detected in the 

Ravenscrag formation of the Cypress Hills region of 

western Canada. . 

Leaves or leaflets similar to these have frequently 

been referred to Rhus, My-rica, or some proteaceous 

genus, but their features are, in my opinion, those of 

Frawinus. They are much like the leaflets of the 

existing Old 'Vorld · Frawinus ta1nariscifolia. Eocene 

fossil species in North America comprise 2 from the 

Denver formation, 1 from the Fort Union, and an 

Arctic species found in the Wilcox. Characteristic 

fruits also occur in the Wilcox, so there is no question 

that the genus was in existence during Eocene timein fact, it has been recorded from the late Upper Cretaceous. Many Tertiary. species have b€en described, 

and there are about two score existing species of the 

North Temperate Zone which reach ·their southern 

limit on the islands of Cuba and Java. 

Genus CARPITES Schimper 

Carpites lakesi Knowlton 

Plate 26, figure 2 

Oa1'lJUes ~a kesii Knowlton, U.S.Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 130, 

p. 164, pl. 19, figs. 6-8, 1922. 

A single specimen of fruit from the lower Lance 

appears to be identical with this Laramie species 

though slightly larger. Its botanic nature is wholly 

conjectural, but as was suggested by Knowlton it 

greatly resembles the stones of various drupaceous 

fruits, particularly those of some species of Prrt.tnus, a 

genus which wonld not be at all out of place in a plant 

assemblage like that of the Lance. 

It shows some resemblance also to a fossil fruit 

described by Knowlton 10 from the Dawson arkope as 

Oarpite8 coryloides. 

1° Knowlton, F. H., 'l'he flora of the Denver and associated formations 

of Colorado: U.S,Geol. Survey Prof. Paper :!-55, p. 132, pl. 58, qg!). 3, '*· 

6, 1!}30, 
. I 

PLATES 25-27 

133 

- I 
U.S.· GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

1 

PROFESSIONAL PAPER 185 PLATE 25 

2 

6 7 8 

FOSSIL PLANTS FROM THE LOWER LANCE OF HARDING COUNTY, S.DAK. 

1-5, Fraxinus leii Berry; 6, 7, Magnolia dakotana Berry; 8, Salix lancensis Berry. 
• 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 185 PLATE 26 

2 

1 

5 6 

FOSSIL PLANTS FROM THE LOWER LANCE OF HARDING COUNTY, S.DAK. 

1, Rhamniles knowltoni Berry; 2, Carpites lakesi Knowlton; 3, Laurus wardiana Knowlton; 4-6, Vilis dakotana Berry. Figure 4 shows the galls supposed to have been produced by Phylloxera. 
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 185 PLATE 27 

FOSSIL PLANTS FROM THE LOWER LANCE OF HARDING COUNTY, S.DAK. 

Vilis dakotana Berry. Three-fourths natural size.