[FOSSIL FLORA OF THE TERTIARY OR CAINOZOIC PERIOD,]
(INCLUDING THE CRETACEOUS EPOCH).
[Reign of Angiosperms.]
This reign is characterised by the appearance of Angiospermous Dicotyledons, plants which constitute more than three-fourths of the species of the existing flowering plants of the globe, and which appear to have acquired the predominance from the commencement of the Tertiary epoch. They are plants with seeds contained in seed-vessels, and each seed with two cotyledons. These plants, however, appear even at the beginning of the Cretaceous period. In this reign, therefore, Brongniart includes the upper Secondary period, or the Cretaceous system, and all the Tertiary period. The Cretaceous may be considered as a sort of transition period between the reign of Gymnosperms and Angiosperms.
[Flora of the Chalk.]
The Chalk flora is characterised by the Gymnospermous almost equalling the Angiospermous Dicotyledons, and by the existence of a considerable number of Cycadaceæ, which do not appear in the Tertiary period. The genus Credneria is one of the characteristic forms. In this period we find Algæ represented by Cystoseirites, Confervites, Sargassites, and Chondrites; Ferns by peculiar species of Pecopteris and Protopteris; Naiadaceæ by Zosterites; Palms, by Flabellaria and Palmacites; Cycadaceæ by Cycadites, Zamites, Microzamia, Fittonia, and Bennettites; Coniferæ, by Brachyphyllum, Widdringtonites, Cryptomeria, Abietites, Pinites, Cunninghamites, Dammarites, Araucarites; and Angiospermous Dicotyledons, by Comptonites, Alnites, Carpinites, Salicites, Acerites, Juglandites, and Credneria. At the base of the Tertiary period there are deposits of Algæ of a very peculiar form, belonging to the genera Chondrites and Munsteria. No land plants have been found mingled with these marine species.
Fig. 91.
Fig. 91. Sequoiites ovalis. Large cone.