An Ancient Foxtail Pine

Abstract

MY young friend Mr. Allan Caplan has recently obtained a remarkable series of fossil plants in the Miocene shales at Creede, Colorado. Among these the conifers are especially interesting, and one specimen consists of a small cone, about 19 mm. long, broadly oval in form, the scales armed with long prickles (Fig. 1). I sought the advice of my colleague, Dr. Edna L. Johnson, who at once produced some immature cones of Pinus aristata, Engelmann, the foxtail pine of the western mountains of the United States. On comparison, it was impossible to see any difference. Knowlton (1923) described a Pinus crossii from Creede, based on foliage which does not appear to differ from that of P. aristata.