LAURUS OREGONIANA a. sp.
Pl. IX, figs. 2, 3.
Laurus n sp., Knowlton in Merriam, Univ. Cal.,
Bull. Dept. Geol., Vol. II, No. 9, p. 309, 1901.
Leaves coriaceous in texture, narrowly lanceolate in
shape, narrowed from apparently above the middle to a long narrowly
wedge-shaped base (upper portion not preserved, but apparently long and
narrowly acuminate); midrib thick below, becoming very slender in the
upper portion; secondaries about 6 pairs, thin, alternate, arising at an
acute angle, passing high up near the margin, where they join,
by a series of broad loops, the one next above;
nervilles prominent, oblique to the midrib and mainly broken, producing
large, irregular areas; finer nervilles numerous, very thin, oblique to
the stronger ones; ultimate nervation made up of very minute but regular
reticulations.
This species is represented thus far by only two
specimens, the one figured and another much less perfect. The one shown
in the plate was about 18 cm. long (13.5 cm. in length is now
preserved), and 3.5 cm. wide at a point probably a little above the
middle. It is impossible to estimate the length of the other specimens,
but it is wider, being fully 4.5 cm. wide. The nervation differs
slightly, also, the secondaries arise at a less acute angle, but
otherwise there is no appreciable difference.
The affinity of the unfigured example seems to be
with some forms of Laurus californica Lesq., but it differs in
having the secondaries at a more acute angle of divergence and
undoubtedly belongs with the leaf figured. It may also be compared with
Persea punctulata Lesq. a
Locality.—Van Horn's ranch, about 12
miles west of Mount Vernon, Grant County, Oregon. Collected by Merriam's
expedition of 1900 (Mus. Univ. Cal., No. 868).
a Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XI, p. 26, Pl. XIV,
fig. 1, 1888.
CINNAMOMUM DILLERI Knowlton.
CINNAMOMUM DILLERI Knowlton, Twentieth Ann. Rept. U.
S. Geol. Surv., Pt. III, p. 47, Pl. IV, fig. 1, 1900.
The material from Cherry Creek obtained in 1901
contains one nearly perfect example and several fragmentary specimens
that must belong to this species. The most perfect specimen is slightly
larger than the type, but otherwise there is no appreciable
difference.
The type was described from Comstock, Douglas County,
Oregon, in beds supposed to be Miocene in age, but associated with it
were shells of Cardita planicostata and other characteristic
Eocene fossils. As the beds at Cherry Creek are certainly Eocene it
would seem to sustain the contention that the beds at Comstock are also
of this age.
Locality.—Cherry Creek, Crook County,
Oregon. Collected by Knowlton and Merriam, July, 1901 (U. S. Nat. Mus.,
Nos. 9055, 9056).
CINNAMOMUM BENDIREI n. sp.
Pl. X, fig. 4.
Leaf membranaceous in texture, oblong-lanceolate in
shape, long wedge-shaped at base, apparently rather obtusely pointed at
apex; margin entire; petiole long and slender; midrib thick below,
becoming very thin above, with two or three pairs of thin secondaries in
the upper part which are at a low angle; lower pair of strong
secondaries arising at a point well above the base of the blade,
passing up at an acute angle to near the upper part of the leaf, and
here they become thin and join with the equally thin secondaries from
the upper part of the midrib; each of the large secondaries with several
thin loops on the outer side; nervilles numerous, thin, crossing between
the midrib and strong secondaries, mainly percurrent though irregular;
finer nervation producing rather large blocks.
The example figured is the only one found in the
collections. It lacks only the extreme upper portion. The length was
about 6.5 cm., exclusive of the petiole, which is 1.5 cm. in length. The
width of the blade is 2.5 cm. at the broadest point, which is slightly
above the middle.
This species is wholly unlike anything before
reported from the beds at Bridge Creek. It is perhaps nearest to certain
forms of C. Scheuchzeri of Heer, being, for example, hardly to
be separated from a leaf figured by Ludwig a in his Fossile
Pflanzen aus der ältesten Abtheilung der Rheinisch - Wettraurer Tertiär
- Formation. This, however, is not the typical form of C.
Scheuchzeri, and I prefer to describe it as new rather than unite it
with an anomalous leaf that has been referred to an established
species.
Locality.—Bridge Creek, Oregon. Collected
by Maj. Charles E. Bendire (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 8490).
a Palœontographica, Vol. VIII, Pl. XLI, fig. 8.
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