168 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM U. 8. NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
3-celled, smooth and crustaceous, its polar axis apparently longer than or nearly 
equal to the equatorial diameter; seeds lenticular, 3.7 mm. thick, 5.1 mm. in diame- 
ter, white; tubercles disposed on upper surface of seed in prominent, concentric lines. 
Costa Rica: Western slope of La Carpintera, between Tres Rios and Cartago, at an 
altitude of about 1,700 meters, H. Pittier and A. Tonduz, May 2, 1891, fruit (Inst. fis.- 
geog. Costa Rica, no. 4344). 
Professor Schumann (in schedula) called this species S. pycnostachys, and it is 
unfortunate that this name can not be retained, as it referred to the thick-set appear- 
ance of the fructiferous spike. The species is closely allied to S. oligoneurum and 
S. anadenum and consequently to 8. aereum and its South American associates; it 
differs from the first two by the peculiar disposition of the petiolar glands, and from 
S. anadenum in particular by its subsessile, longer capsule, the outer shell of which 
is also thinner and smoother, 
7. Sapium pachystachys Schumann « Pittier, sp. nov. Piatt XVI. 
Small tree with thick, short trunk, 40 cm, in diameter, and more or less depressed 
crown, the primary limbs mostly horizontal; stipules ovate-lanceolate, acuminate; 
petioles thick, sulcate, 1 to 2 em. long; petiolar glands rather short and thick, con- 
tiguous with the blade; leaf blades 8 to 9 em. long, 4 to 5 em. broad, coriaceous, 
oval-elliptic, rounded at base and with obtuse acumen, paler below; margin revo- 
lute; secondary nerves arcuate, prominent on both faces; floral spikes terminal, 
single, androgynous, thick; floral glands elliptic, 2 at base of each pistillate flower 
and at base of each group of staminate flowers, the latter in clusters of 3 to 5; sta- 
mens half-included in calyx; filaments thick and short; anthers as broad as long; 
pistillate flowers 8 to 10 at base of spikes, each flower with ovate-acuminate scales 3 
to 3.5mm, long and 4mm. broad, their margins membranous and transparent; calyx 
tubiform, yellowish white, enveloping the ovary and style as far as the forking of 
the stigmas; ovary slightly depressed, 2.5 mm. in diameter, 1.5 mm. high, distinetly 
pedicellate; style 2 mm. long; stigmas thick, rather long (about 3 mm.), nearly 
straight, spreading; capsule and seed unknown. 
Costa Rica: Small tree growing isolated in pastures at El Copey, Dota Mountains, 
altitude 1,800 meters, A. Tonduz, February, 1898, flowers (Inst. ffs.-geog. Costa Rica, 
no, 11875; U.S. National Herbarium no. 333961, type). 
8. Sapium oligoneurum Schumann « Pittigr, sp. nov. Piate XVII. 
A tree about 12 meters high, with elongated crown and slender habit; petioles 
thin, 1 to2 em. long; petiolar glands rather long and eylindrical, inserted at the 
beginning of the expansion of the lamina; leaf blades 3 to 7 em. long, 2 to 3 em. 
broad, ovate to ovate-elliptic, the base shortly cuneate, then rounded, the apical 
gland well developed on a narrow involute acumen, the margin sinuate, obscurely cre- 
nate, the nerves few; spikes often as much as 14 em. long, single, terminal with a few 
pistillate flowers at base; floral glands elliptic-elongate; staminate flowers in clusters 
of 5 to 7, one of them opening at a time; bracts broad and short, with rounded 
scarious upper margin; perianth broadly open; filaments slender; anthers small, 
Costa Rica: Along upper road going from the railroad station at Cartago to Cot, 
near San Rafael, altitude 1,500 meters, H. Pittier, July, 1899 (Inst. ffs.-geog. Costa 
Rica, no, 13408; U. 8. National Herbarium, no, 578903, type). 
This species is maintained, subject to revision when better information is secured, 
on the authority of Schumann, notwithstanding the deficient material at hand. The 
form of the leaves, if not their reduced size, and the apical gland suggest S. aereum 
Klotzsch, but for the metallic sheen, which seems to be a constant character of the 
leaves in the latter species. Also, the wide distance between the reported stations is 
opposed to the identity of the two species, the known forms having almost always 
very limited ranges 
