Fig. 93. Palmacites Lamanonis. Fan-shaped (flabellate) leaf of a Palm.
The Eocene epoch in general is characterised by the predominance of Algæ and marine Naiadaceæ, such as Caulinites and Zosterites; by numerous Coniferæ, the greater part resembling existing genera among the Cupressineæ, and appearing in the form of Juniperites, Thuites, Cupressinites ([Plate II. Figs. 8, 9]), Callitrites, Frenelites, and Solenostrobus; by the existence of a number of extra-European forms, especially of fruits, such as Nipadites, Leguminosites, Cucumites, and Hightea; and by the presence of some large species of Palm belonging to the genera Flabellaria and Palmacites (Fig. 93).
Fig. 94.
Fig. 94. Osmunda regalis, Royal Fern, having a bipinnate frond and fructification in a spike-like form, the branches bearing sporangia.
Unger says that the Eocene flora has resembled in many respects that of the present Australian vegetation. He gives the following genera as occurring at the Eocene epoch:—Araucaria, Podocarpus, Libocedrus, Callitris, Casuarina, Pterocarpus, Drepanocarpus, Centrolobium, Dalbergia, Cassia, Cæsalpinia, Bauhinia, Copaifera, Entada, Acacia, Mimosa, Inga. (Seemann's Journal of Bot. vol. iii. p. 43.) Amber is considered to be the produce of many Coniferæ of this epoch, such as Peuce succinifera or Pinites succinifera, and Pinus Rinkianus. It occurs in East Prussia in great quantity, and it is said that many pieces of fossil wood occur there, which, when moderately heated, give out a decided smell of amber. Connected with these beds are found cones belonging to Pinites sylvestrina and P. Pumilio-miocena, species nearly allied to the living species; others to Pinites Thomasianus and P. brachylepis. Goeppert contrasts the present flora of Germany and that of the Amber epoch as follows:—
| German Flora. | Amber Flora. | |
| Cryptogameæ | 6800 | 60 |
| Phanerogameæ | 3454 | 102 |
| and gives the following specimens of two of the orders:— | ||
| Cupuliferæ | 12 | 10 |
| Ericaceæ | 23 | 24 |
(See remarks by Goeppert on the Amber Flora, etc., Edin. N. Phil. Journ. lvi. 368; and Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. x. 37.) In the lower Eocene of Herne Bay, Carruthers noticed a fern like Osmunda (Fig. 94), which he calls Osmundites Dowkeri ([Plate I. Figs. 8, 9]). This specimen was silicified; starch grains contained in its cells, and the mycelium of a parasitic fungus traversing some of them, were perfectly preserved. Berkeley has detected in amber fossil fungi, which he has named Penicillium curtipes, Brachycladium Thomasinum, and Streptothrix spiralis.[21] Some Characeæ are also met with, as Chara medicaginula and C. prisca, with a fossil called Gyrogonites, the nucule or the fructification of these plants. Carpolithes ovatus, a minute seed-vessel, occurs in the Eocene beds of Lewisham. Another small fruit, of a similar nature, called Folliculites minutulus, occurs in the Bovey Tracey coal, which belongs to the Tertiary beds.
[Flora of the Miocene Epoch.]
