USNM 37482 Piper arcuatile Hollick  

Notes

Hollick (1930)

Pl. 31 Fig. 1

 

 

Locality

From Hollick (1930) (p. 62)

"Yukon River, north bank, at Blatchford's mine (original No. 3AH19); collected by Arthur Hollick and Sidney Paige in 1903 (lot 3258) (pl. 31, fig. 1). Yukon River, north bank, about 6 miles below Blatchford's mine (original No. 3AH22); collected by Arthur Hollick and Sidney Paige in 1903 (lot 3261) (pl. 31, fig. 2)."

 

Locality Map

 

Description

From Hollick (1930) (p. 62)

"Plate 31, Figures 1, 2"

"Leaves ovate-elliptical, inequilateral, 6 centimeters in length by 3.75 centimeters in maximum width across the middle, constricted above to an acuminate apex, rounded below and terminating in a short, acute, slightly decurrent base; margin entire; petiole 1 cen- timeter in length, curved; midrib curved in continuation of the petiole; nervation palmate; secondary nerves two on each side, starting from the base of the leaf at acute angles of divergence from the midrib, the inner pair acrodrome, stronger than the outer pair, branched on the outer sides, the branches curving upward and becoming camptodrome with the outer secondaries:"

 

Remarks

From Hollick (1930) (p. 62)

"It was more or less of a surprise to find what is apparently a well-defined species of Piper in two of the collections from Alaska. Only two species of the genus have been heretofore reported from America - namely, Piper heerii Lesquereux (1888) (p. 44) from the Eocene of Colorado, and Piper sp. Knowlton (1902) (p. 33) from the Eocene of Washington. Unfortunately neither species is figured, but it may be of interest to compare Lesquereux's description of his species with the description of ours. He says:

'Leaves subcoriaceous, round or oval, very entire, palmately nerved from the base; lateral nerves very curved, the outer following the borders up to the middle of the leaf, the inner acrodrome. * * * The nerves are distinct; the outer primary follows the borders at a small distance, its branches, nearly at right angles, forming, by anastomosing curves, a series of areoles along the borders from the middle downward, and the areas are traversed by nervilles-at right angles.'

Two species have been reported from the Old World - Piper antiqua Heer, from the Tertiary (Eocene?) of Sumatra, and P. feistmantelli Ettingshausen, from the Eocene of Australia; but neither of these has a specific resemblance to ours.

Under the allied genus Piperites have been described three species from the Eocene of Java and one, Piperites tuscaloosensis Berry (1919) (p. 72, pl. 12, fig. 3)from the Upper Cretaceous of Alabama; the latter might almost equally well be referred to the genus Piper.
Our Figure 1, it may be noted, includes fragments of three leaves, one of which represents a long, narrow, acute apex, considerably more attenuated than is the apex of the specimen depicted in Figure 2, suggesting the possibility that these fragments may represent another species."