THE LECYTHIDACEAE OF COSTA RICA. 
by H. Pirrrer pe FABREGA. 
On account probably of the difficulty of obtaining good specimens, 
the Leevthidaceae of Costa Rica have been practically overlooked by 
former collectors. The species do not appear to be numerous, and It 
is likely that the present paper includes most of those to be found in 
that country. as well as in the neighboring Republic of Nicaragua. 
It should be mentioned, however, that one species of the genus Grias 
has been found in Panama and may occur also within the limits of 
Costa Riea. The four species described here belong to three of the 
genera admitted by Niedenzu in his elaboration of the family for the 
Pflanzenfamilien and a careful comparison of the material at hand 
with Miers’s descriptions” has satisfied me beyond any doubt that 
we have to do with hitherto unnoticed forms, except in the case of 
Couroupita nicaraquarensis, discovered by Oersted some fifty vears 
ago. 
The species described here belong to the Lecythidoideae proper. 
They are mostly large trees, with showy, dense foliage. The leaves 
are alternate and exstipulate, entire except in one case, more or less 
coriaceous. and with short petioles. The inflorescence is racemose. 
The sepals and petals are 6 each. The stamens are united at the base 
ina ring that is extended on one side in a helmet-like blade (andro- 
phorum) inflexed above the ovary. The ovary is 2 to 6-celled. The 
fruit isa capsule, or pyridinm, more or less coriaceous or thick-walled 
and always polyspermous: its circumference generally shows 2 more 
or less marked circular lines, the inferior of which corresponds to the 
base of the sepals and has been called by Miers calycary zone, while 
the upper is the line of dehiscence of the operculum and indicates the 
junction of the floral disk with the vertex of the ovary. The space 
between these two concentric Hnes is known as the énterzonary band. 
The seeds differ in the three genera in their structure and mode of 
attachment. 
ang). & Prantl, Pflanzenfam, 3°: 26-41. 1892. 
by, Miers, On the Lecythidacere, Trans. Linn, Soc, 80: 157-318, pl. 83-05. 
1874. 
Oh 
