166 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM U. 8S. NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
validity of the main specific character given by him, i. e., the laterality of the 
spikes, and in referring to a genus that is so noteworthy for individual variations in 
the form and size of the leaves still less weight should be given to characters taken 
from these. The remaining parts of the description apply in a general way to sev. 
eral of the Central American species. 
4. Sapium thelocarpum Schumann & Pittier, sp. nov. Puate XIII. 
A tree often reaching 20 meters in height, with horizontal or slightly ascending 
limbs; new growth leaves rather large; petioles slender, 1.5 to 3 mm. long, with 
petiolar glands 1 mm. long, some 2 mm. distant from the lamina; lamina broadly 
elliptic, 7 to 14 cm. long, 4 to 7 cm. broad, rounded at base, obtusely acuminate, its 
margin obtusely sinuate; leaves of floral twigs obovate, 7 to 14 em. long, 2 to 4 em. 
broad, long-cuneate or rounded at base, abruptly acuminate with a well-developed 
gland on upper surface of incurvate tip; margin obscurely sinuate-serrate and revolute; 
larger secondary nerves rather distant, arcuate, forming a fine, prominent network 
on the lower, paler green face of the blade; spikes single, terminal, reaching 22 cm. 
in length, androgynous, with 3 to 4 pistillate flowers at base of each spike or only 
male; bracts not over 1 mm. long, ovate-acuminate; ovary distinctly pear-shaped; 
style persistent; staminate flowers very small, in clusters of 5 or less, with orbicular 
glands at base; capsules stipitate, 4 or less on each spike, pyriform, apparently with 
only 2 fertile cells; mature seeds not known. 
Costa Rica: Along Rio Ciruelas, on the southern slope of Barba Volcano, altitude 
about 1,800 meters, A. Tonduz, young shoot with unusually large leaves (Inst. ffs.- 
geog. Costa Rica, no. 2219); hedges at La Verbena, near San José, altitude 1,100 
meters, A. Tonduz, August, 1894, fruit (U.S. National Herbarium, no. 578901, type; 
Inst. fis.-geog. Costa Rica, no. 8857); along Rio Torres near San José, altitude 1,100 
meters, A. Tonduz, July, 1896, young fruits and male flowers (Inst. ffs.-geog. Costa 
Rica, no. 10112). 
The late Doctor Schumann labeled with the above name only no. 8857, while he 
named no. 101128. biglandulosum Mill. Arg. This last number does not agree with 
Muller’s description, and I fail to find a difference between the two specimens except 
that in 10112 the leaf indentation is perhaps less obtuse and the base of the blade more 
rounded and broader. The specimens of both numbers agree in their other charac- 
ters and to my knowledge both represent the one common species met with almost 
everywhere in the valley known as the Central Plateau of Costa Rica. The same 
can be said of no, 2219, placed by Schumann in a third species, S. aucuparium Jacq. 
This specimen consists merely of young leaves of what is certainly, according to my 
experience, the species just described. Insufficient attention has perhaps been paid 
to the fact that Sapium, like Ficus, Castilla, and some other trees, has much larger 
leaves on shoots or on young specimens than on the adult individuals 
5. Sapium pedicellatum Huber, Bull. Herb. Boiss. Il. 6: 352.1906. Phare XTV. 
A medium-sized tree with generally elongated erown, the limbs ascending; petioles 
8 to 18 mm. long, the glands elongate, cylindrical; leaf blades membranaceous and 
tender on the young floral shoots, coriaceous later, almost uniformly elliptic-lanceo- 
late, 4 to 9 em, long, 1.5 to 83cm. broad, more or less acute at base and pointed at 
the glandless tip; the margin smooth in young leaves, distinctly serrulate in the 
mature ones; the secondary nerves numerous, more or less prominent on the upper 
face according to the age of leaf; floral branchlets slender and not ramified, growing 
profusely on the thick, succulent twigs of the preceding year; floral spikes lateral or 
terminal, androgynous or only staminate, probably in part caducous, 7 to 9 em. 
long; floral glands oval; staminate flowers generally 5 in each cluster, the bracts 
broad and very short, the perianth divisions acute, the stamens connate only at base, 
their filaments thickened at the middle, the anthers cordate; pistillate flowers, when 
present, | to + at base of each spike; ovary distinctly stipitate and shortly mucro- 
