An Engelhardtia from the American Eocene |
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AMERICAN EOCENE American species angle apical approximately Armissan Asiatic base beds BERRY botanical broken Burma to Java Central America close collected compared considerable deposits described different venation distad distribution of Engelhardtia downward early EDWARD EDWARD W Engelhardtia Brongniarti Engelhardtia mississippiensis Engelhardtia Oreomunnea Engelhardtia oxyptera enor entire Ettingshausen Europe European existing species expanded flora Florissant forms fossil species fruits genera genus Engelhardtia Geol geological herbaria involucre isolated Italy known larger lateral wings latter less Ligurien locality margins markedly material median wing midvein mile Miocene Mississippi northwestern occurrences Oligocene outline paleobotanist parallel peculiar Pliocene poorly portion present species primaries range recent recorded from Spain reflexed relatively rounded Saporta secondaries seed showing the existing similar single Sketch map slightly Sotzka southeastern France species of Carpinus species of Engelhardtia specimens of Engelhardtia stars supposed species Tert Tertiary throughout usually walnut wider width Wien
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Page 492 - ... geological history. Engelhardtia proves to be another illustration of this principle, for its peculiar three-winged fruits have been known in the fossil state for almost a century. They were long unrecognized, however, and the earlier students who described them compared them with the somewhat similar winged fruits of the genus Carpinus (Betulaceae).
Page 492 - Engelhardtia (Oreomunnea) in Central America. Since Ettingshausen's announcement a dozen or more fossil species have been described. The oldest known European form occurs in the upper Eocene or lower Oligocene (Ligurien) of France and the species become increasingly abundant throughout southern Europe especially toward the close of the Oligocene and the dawn of the Miocene, Saporta stating that the slabs from the leaf-beds at Armissan in southeastern France are thickly strewn with their peculiar...
Page 491 - ... the northwestern Himalayas through farther India and Burma to Java and the Philippines. The pistillate flowers are small and are grouped in paniculate spikes. They develop into small drupe-like fruits, each of which is connate at the base to a large expanded tri-alate involucre. A single little known species rarely represented in even the larger herbaria occurs in Central America and is the type and only species of the genus Oreomunnea of Oersted. This is much more restricted in its range than...
Page 492 - With the botanical exploration of distant lands in the early part of the nineteenth century, specimens of Engelhardtia began to be represented in the larger European herbaria, and Baron Ettingshausen, that most sagacious of paleobotanists, as long ago as 1851 pointed out that certain supposed species of Carpinus were really fruits of Engelhardtia. He returned to the subject in 1858 without, however, actually changing the names of any of the supposed species of Carpinus nor does he seem to have been...
Page 491 - THE walnut family (Juglandacese), which in the popular mind is fully rounded out by the enumeration of the walnut, butternut, hickory and pignut, consists of six or seven genera and about forty species scattered throughout the warmer parts of the north temperate zone and penetrating some distance south of the equator along the Andes in South America and in the East Indies. The...
Page 496 - There seems to be little occasion for confusion, however, even in poorly preserved fossil material. The fruit proper is decidedly different, although this is seldom well enough preserved in fossils to be decisive. The involucre is also markedly different in the two genera. Carpinus involucres are usually smaller with the median wing much wider and longer than the lateral wings and with somewhat different venation. The margins are also toothed while in Engelhardtia, they are always entire. I have...
Page 492 - Oreomunnea furnishes a striking illustration of the enormous changes which have taken place in the flora of the world in the relatively short time, geologically speaking, that has elapsed since the dawn of the Tertiary. The principle has frequently been enunciated that when closely related forms are found in the existing flora of the world, restricted in range and isolated from their nearest relatives, or when other existing genera are monotypic, it is quite safe to predict an interesting and extended...
Page 491 - ... Oreomunnea is very close to Engelhardtia, and for the purposes of the paleobotanist the two may be considered as identical since they represent the but slightly modified descendants of a common ancestry which was of cosmopolitan distribution during the early Tertiary. The present isolation of Oreomunnea furnishes a striking illustration of the enormous changes which have taken place in the flora of the world in the relatively short time, geologically speaking, that has elapsed since the dawn...
Page 491 - According to current interpretations there are six genera and about forty species widely scattered throughout the warmer parts of the north temperate zone and penetrating some distance south of the equator along the Andes in South America, and in the East Indies. The Juglandaceae are of considerable interest for a variety of reasons, chief among which, aside from their great economic importance, are their long line of ancestors reaching back some millions of years to the Mid-Cretaceous, and the former...
Page 491 - ... great economic importance, are their long line of ancestors reaching back some millions of years to the mid-Cretaceous, and the former wide range and abundance of these ancestors, which also serves to explain the curious geographical distribution of the still existing species. They are also interesting because of the much discussed question as to whether their morphological characters shall be interpreted as primitive or as mere simplifications of a more highly organized stock. Not all of the...