Bulletin 3. The flora of the Raritan Formation, 1911 - State of New ...

38 THE RARITAN FL&RA,
Turning to the Dicotyledona_, we find the old group Amentiferal,
which by some authors are thought to be reduced higher
plants and by others considered primitive and as partially bridging
the gap between the Angiospermae and the order Gnetalcs
of the Gymuospermae, has I8 species, or i4%, in the Raritan.
These include 8 species of Myricales, i of Jttglandales, 8 of
Salicales and I of Fagales. This is a considerable less showing
than is made by this type in the flora of the Dakota Group,
where there are 5o species of Myricales, 6 of Juglandales, 24 of
Salieales and 44 of Fagales.
The order Urtic_les has a species of Play,era and 4 species
of Ficus in the Raritan, the latter including both the lanceolate
pinnately-veined forms and those with a palmate venation. This
order is much more fully represented in immediately succeeding
floras, the Dakota Group having over a score of species, and the
Senonian, both at home and abroad, a great variety.
The order Proteales, which in modern floras is confined to
the southern hemisphere, has but _ Raritan species, while there
are 6 in the Dakota Group. Later geologic time shows a considerable
development of this order, especially in the Tertiary
of Europe.
The order Ranales, recently given a prominent place in phylogenetic
speculations by English authors, who, on purely theoretical
grounds, would connect the Angiospermae through this
medium with the Mesozoic Cycadophyta, has _4 species in the
Raritan, or I9% of its known flora. This is a much less number
than is present in the Dakota Group, from which 8I species are
recorded. In the Raritan there are 2 species of Dewalqaea,
9 or 50 of Magnolict, 2 of Liriodendron, 3 "of Sassafras, and 2
species of Meni,_permites. At the present day this order is represented
in the latitude of New Jersey by mostly herbaceous
forms of the family Ranuncnlaceae, the arborescent forms related
to those of the Rarltart being largely warm-temperate or subtropical
species of wide distribution, strongly represented in
northern South America.
The large modern order Rosales has 43_ species in the area
covered by Brlttou and Brown's Illustrated Flora of the United
States, while in Small's Flora of the Southern United States
NEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY