6 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
published in the same work, 1 have adopted Neotreleasea as differing 
sufliciently from these names and still carrying out my wish to honor 
Dr. William Trelease. It seemed desirable to republish with some 
slight changes the descriptions and synonymy along with the new 
names. 
Neotreleasea Rose, nom. nov. 
TRELEASEA Rose, Contr. Nat. Herb. 5: 207. 1899, not Treleasia Spegaz. Revist. 
Agron. y Vet. La Plata 2: 235. 1896. 
Type species, Neotreleasea brevifolia Rose. 
Sepals distinct, concave, subequal, greenish or searious. Petals distinet, tapering 
at base into a slender claw, cohering and forming a slender tube. Stamens 6, all 
perfect, subequal, more or less hairy, borne on the petals. Style slender, 3-lobed. 
Capsule stipitate, 3-celled. Cells dehiscent, 2-seeded. Perennial herbs from tuber- 
ous roots. Cymes sessile, many-flowered, in either terminal or axillary clusters. 
This genus differs from Tradescantia, especially in the corolla and the position of 
the stamens. Tradescantia has always an open flower spreading from the base, with 
petals broad at base, while Neotreleasea has the petals tapering into a claw, forming 
a tube and only spreading toward the top. The stamens, too, are always free in 
Tradescantia, while in Neotreleasea they are borne on the petals. 
The genus seems nearer Cyanotis than Tradescantia, but differs from that in its 
stipitate fruit, concave sepals, etc. It is perhaps nearest Zebrina, differing chiefly 
in the fact that the petals are not united into a tube, but merely cohere at the edges. 
I have long been dissatisfied with the reference of the species brerifolia to Trades- 
cantia, having had the plant under cultivation since 1895.9 While in Mexico in 1897 
I found another plant of similar habit with the same flower structure, showing that 
this is a good generic type. 7. leiandra, although the flower structure is doubtful, 
possesses the stipitate fruit and otherwise suggests that it belongs here also. 
The genus, as I now understand it, consists of the following species: 
Neotreleasea brevifolia (Torr. ) Rose. PLaTe II. 
Tradescantia (?) brevifolia Rose, Contr. Nat. Herb. 8: 823. pl. 16. 1895, 
Tradescantia leiandra brerifolia Torr, Bot. Mex. Bound. 225. 1859. 
Tradescantia speciosa Buckley, Proc, Acad. Phila. 1862: 9. 1863, not L. nor H. BLK. 
Zebrina (?) leiandra Clark, in DC. Monogr. Phan. 3: 318. 1881. 
Tradescantia leiandra Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 18: 167. 1883, not Torr. 
Tradescantia leiandra ovata Coulter, Contr. Nat. Herb. 1: 50. 1890. 
Treleasea brerifolia Rose, Contr. Nat. Herb. 5: 207. 1899. 
Stems prostrate, leafy to the top; leaves approximate, ovate, 2.5 to 7.5 em. long, 
2.5 em. wide, thickish, glaucous, glabrous except the ciliate-scabrous margins, acute; 
margin of sheath ciliate; involucral leaves 2, like the lower leaves, but smaller; 
umbel sessile, many-flowered: corolla white, petals ovate, obtuse, somewhat spread- 
ing, tapering at base into a slender claw, stamens erect, longer than the petals, hairy 
near the middle, attached to the petals; ovary hairy near the top. 
For a number of years this species was cultivated in Washington, both in the green- 
houses and in the gardens. In the greenhouses it grew luxuriantly under the 
benches. The foliage is of a glossy bright green, and in all cases the flowers have 
been white, usually appearing singly.“ 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE I].—Fig. a, plamt; 6, margin of leaf; ¢, two views of sepals; d, petals; 
e, stamens and base of petal; f, back of anther; g, style. Fig. @, natural size; b, seale of 10; ¢ and d, 
scale of 2; e, f, and g, scale of 4. 
“For a full discussion of this species sand i its relationships with r. leiandra s see Rose 
Ooo 
in the third volume of this publication, pages 522, 523. 
