Description of Pityostrobus hallii is based on lignitic cone pieces from an exposure of the Late Cretaceous Magothy Formation at Bethel, Maryland. The cones were about 15 cm long and 3 cm in diam in the living condition. Scale apices are papery thin like those of certain Recent species of Picea , but the presence of anatomical features typical of other genera as well as conditions that are not known to occur in present‐day pinaceous cones necessitates classification of the new species in an organ genus. Similar lignitic cones from the Magothy Formation of Delaware that were misidentified as specimens of Picea cliffwoodensis Berry belong to the new species.
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Charles N. Miller (1974) studied this question.