PTTTTER PLANTS PROM COT.OMP.TA AND CENTRAL AMERTCA. 97 



Fischeria calycina Decaisne in DC. Prodr. 8: GOO. 1844. Fiotjre 3. 



A milky vine. Stems and branchlets velvety-pubescent, and covered at the same 

 time with somewhat sparse, long, stiff, brownish hairs. 



Leaves petiolate, of a medium size. Petioles 4 to 5 cm. long, slender, pubescent, 

 and with interspersed long hairs. Leaf blades 7 to 14 cm. long, 4 to 7 cm. broad, 

 ovate, often contracted near the base, cordate, acuminate; upper face dark green 

 and sparsely short-hairy; lower face velvety, pale, with the main nerves and veins 

 forming a brown-colored salient, reticulate design. 



Inflorescences axillary and racemose; flowers caducous. Peduncles 12 to 20 cm. 

 long, i. e., as long as the adjacent leaves, pubescent, with interspersed long stiff hairs, 

 the upper part covered 

 with the scars of the fallen 

 flowers. Pedicels 2.4 cm. 

 long, slender, velvety like 

 the branches, provided at 

 the base with an acute, 

 linear, hairy bracteole. 

 Lobes of calyx 4 to 5 mm. 

 long, 1 .8 to 2 mm. broad, 

 lanceolate, subacute, hir- 

 sute, alternating with finger-like glands 



Fig. 3. — Translatorium of Fischeria calycina. Scale 32. 



Corolla yellowish white, its lobes about 

 10 mm. long, 5 mm. broad, suddenly contracted and with plicate margin near the 

 subacute end . Crown double, the exterior annular, the interior lobulate and adhering 

 to the anthers. Retinacle subhastate, cont racted at the base, 0.29 mm. long, 0.25 mm. 

 in maximal breadth; caudicles about 0.15 mm. long; pollinia subreniform, 0.97 mm. 

 long, the maximum transverse diameter 0.00 mm. Ovaries ovate, hairy, ending in 

 an obtuse, glabrous style about 1 mm. long. Follicles not known. 



Colombia: Cordoba, at the outlet of the Dagua Valley, Pacific coastal zone, 

 altitude 30 to 100 meters, Pittier 596, flowers, December 9, 1905 (U. S. National Her- 

 barium no. 530783). 

 The identification 

 of the species of this 

 genus is extremely 

 difficult and the 

 group needs a thor- 

 ough revision. Our 

 Colombian speci- 

 mens, as here d e - 

 scribed, agree better 

 with Decaisne's de- 

 scription of Fischeria 

 calycina than with 

 that of any other of the 

 West Andean forms. 



Metastelma decipiens Pittier, sp. nov. Figure 4. 



Subvoluble, trailing vine, the stems rather thick, divaricate, longitudinally striate, 

 minutely pubescent. Fully developed internodes 6 cm. long. 



Leaves rather large or middle-sized. Petioles about 5 mm. long, pubescent. Leaf 

 blades 3 to 4 cm. long, 1 to 1.5 cm. broad, lanceolate, acuminate, rounded at base, 

 glabrous or sparsely pubescent, blackish above and yellowish green below when dry, 

 with one pair of conical glands near the insertion of the petiole; margin more or less 

 re volute. 



Fig. 4. —Flower parts of Metastelma decipiens and M. barbigerum. Of former, 

 a, part of calyx; 6, lobule of corolla; c, stamen, lateral view, showing scale 

 of corona; d, anther, front view, showing apical appendage; e, translato- 

 rium. Of latter,/, translatorium. ad, Scale !); ej, scale 32. 



