PITTIER PLANTS FROM COLOMBIA AND CENTRAL AMERICA. 



99 



t.fi 



Fig. 5.— Flower parts of Mdastelma sepicofa. a, Lol* 

 of calyx; 6, part of corolla; c, scales of corona, lateral 

 and front views; d, stamen; e, translatorium. 

 a-d, Scale about 8; e, scale 32. 



lute at the base and the tip flat or rounded, the length 0.5 mm., the breadth 0.3 mm. 

 Stamens 8.5 mm. long, with rather long filaments (1.1 mm.); apieal membrane of 

 the anther orbicular, slightly ernarginate at tip, 0.3 mm. long, 0.45 mm. broad. Ret- 

 inaculum abotit 0.14 mm. long, 0.00 mm. broad, naviculiform. Caudicles 0.12 

 mm. long, rather thick, articulate. Pollinia pendulous, elongate-pyriform, about 

 0.2 mm. long. Pistil smooth; styles about 1.4 mm. long. 



Follicles not known. 



Costa Rica: Hedges around San Jose, altitude 1,150 meters, Tonduz, flowers, July, 

 1896 (Institute fis.-geog. Costa Rica no. 10130; IT. S. National Herbarium no. 

 471973, type); slopes above San Rafael 

 de Cartago, Pitticr, flowers, October 18, 

 1894 (Institute fis.-geog. no. 9026). 



These Costa Rican specimens were 

 ascribed to M. pedunculare Decaisne 

 by Mr. Donnell Smith. They agree 

 with the short description given by the 

 author « as to their leaves, but the in- 

 florescences are always shorter than 

 there given, and the flowers, which de- 

 velop successively, are mostly more 

 than 5 in each cyme. The type of 

 M. pedunculare which is in the Herba- 

 rium of the Paris Museum, was collected by Hartweg (sub no. 601) at the Cuesta de 

 Pinula, near Guatemala City. 



Ditassa caucana Pittier, sp. nov. Figure 6. 



A milky, subligneous vine. Stems and branchlets tomentose, voluble, diffuse. 



Leaves small, opposite, petiolate. Petioles hairy, 2 to 3 mm. long. Leaf blades 



lanceolate, 12 to 40 mm. long, 4 to 10 mm. broad, long-cuneate at base, mucronate 



at tip, dark green (in the dried state blackish), and sparsely hirsute above, densely 



tomentose and whit- 

 ish underneath, with 

 revolute margins. 



Inflorescences cy- 

 mose, axillary, and al- 

 ternate, much shorter 

 than the leaves. Pedi- 

 cels densely hairy, 2 

 to 4 mm. long; brac- 

 teoles very small, 

 ovate -lanceolate, 

 hairy outside. 



Calycinal lobes 

 ovate-lanceolate, 1.4 

 mm. b»ng, 0.6 mm. 

 broad, inside with 5 

 cylindrical alternate 



glands. Corolla white, divided almost to the base into 5 ovate-lanceolate seg- 

 ments, these 2.3 mm. long, 1 mm. broad, sparsely hairy on both faces, striate 

 longitudinally with dark lines and with a transparent, smooth right margin (covered 

 in prefloration). Corona double; phylla of the outer row almost free, 1.8 to 2 

 mm long, lanceolate, long-acuminate, with margins smooth or provided with 

 one pair of symmetrical, more or less pronounced teeth; phylla of the inner row 



a DC. Prodr. 8:514. 1844. 



FIG. 6.— Flower parts of Ditassa caueana. a, Flower; 6, ovaries ami part of 

 calyx; c, phyllum of the outer corona; d, front view of two stamens with 

 the corresponding parts of the corona, showing comparative size; {dUl\ 

 phylla of outer corona; <P (P, phylla of the Inner corona; d», anthers); 

 f , translatorium. a-d, Scale 9; e, scale :12. 



