“The family of Betulaceæ of the order Cupuliferæ show the form, then new, of Quercus, the Oak; the Juglandeæ, and Ulmaceæ mingle with the Proteaceæ, now limited to the southern hemisphere. Dermatophyllites, preserved in amber, seem to have belonged to the family of the Ericineæ, and Tropa Arcturæ of Unger, of the group Œnothereæ, floated on the shallow waters in which grew the Chara and the Potamogeton.
“This numerous flora comprises more than 200 known species, of which 143 belonged to the Dicotyledons, thirty-three to the Monocotyledons, and thirty-three to the Cryptogams.
“Trees predominate here as in the preceding period, but the great numbers of aquatic plants of the period are quite in accordance with the geological facts, which show that the continents and islands were intersected by extensive lakes and inland seas, while vast marine bays and arms of the sea penetrated deeply into the land.”
Fig. 149.—Branch of Eucalyptus restored.
It is moreover a peculiarity of this period that the whole of Europe comprehended a great number of those plants which are now confined to Australasia, and which give so strange an aspect to that country, which seems, in its vegetation, as in its animals, to have preserved in its warm latitudes the last vestiges of the organic creations peculiar to the primitive world. As a type of dicotyledonous trees of the epoch, we present here a restored branch of Eucalyptus ([Fig. 149]), with its flowers. All the family of the Proteaceæ, which comprehends the Banksia, the Hakea, the Gerilea protea, existed in Europe during the Tertiary period. The family of Mimosas, comprising the Acacia and Inga, which in our age are only natives of the southern hemisphere, abounded in Europe during the same geological period. A branch of Banksia, with its fructification, taken from impressions discovered in rocks of the period, is represented in [Fig. 150]—it is different from any species of Banksia living in our days.
Fig. 150.—Fruit-branch of Banksia restored.