120 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Fig. 33. — Seed 

 of Elateriopsis 

 oerstedii. Nat- 

 ural size. 



obscurely trilobate, chartaceous, dark green, glabrous and minutely dotted above, 

 paler and glabrous, except along the hairy, prominent ribs beneath; margin set 

 with remote, minute teeth, the rather rounded angles and tips abruptly contracted 

 into a short, obtuse point. Tendrils slender, 2-branched, the striate peduncle 2 to 

 5 cm. long. 



Rachis of the male inflorescence robust, sulcate, glabrous, 5 to 20 cm. long, bearing 

 from the middle 10 to 25 isolated flowers. Pedicels filiform, 8 to 23 em. long, pubes- 

 cent, « more or less erect. Calyx broadly campanulate, sparsely pubes- 

 cent, 3 to 4 mm. deep, 6 to 7 mm. broad; teeth subulate, reflexed, 0.5 

 to 1 mm. long. Corolla greenish white, pubescent without, papillose 

 within; lobes ovate-lanceolate, more or less rounded at tip, 5 to 6 mm. 

 long, 4 to 5 mm. broad at base, thick on the brownish margin and more 

 or less distinctly marked with 7 dark longitudinal bands. Filaments 

 adnate in a single column, about 2.5 mm. long; anthers sessile, coher- 

 ent, forming a depressed, rounded head, about 5 mm. in diameter. 

 Female flowers not known. 

 Fruiting peduncle 2 to 3 cm. long, thick, geniculate. Fruit oblique, 

 subconic, acute, 6 to 8 cm. long, 3 to 4 cm. in diameter, fleshy, smooth, light green 

 and striate with darker longitudinal lines, elastically dehiscent, obscurely 3-celled, 

 each cell with several seeds. Seeds obovate, attenuate and emarginate at the base, 

 flallcned, brownish, aboul 17 mm. long and Hi mm. broad. 



Costa Rica: San Jose, Oersted 20 (Co- 

 penhagen Herbarium); Cerro de Catalina, 

 Oersted 18 (herb, cit.); Pacaca, near San 

 Jose, Oersted 19 (herb, cit.); Juan Vinas, 

 Reventazon Valley, altitude 1,000 meters, 

 Cook 6c Boyle 221, male flowers and fruits, 

 April 22, 1903 (U. S. National Herbarium 

 no. 474016); Cartago, altitude 1,400 meters, 

 Cooper, male flowers, March, 1888(Donnell 

 Smith Herbarium no. 5776). 



Explanation of Plate 19.— Stem with leavesand 

 fruit; section of fruit. PYom a photograph taken by 

 Cook & Doyle at Juan Villas. 



Elateriopsis oerstedii biolleyi Pittier. 



Figure 31. 



Cyclanthera oerstedii biolleyi Cogniaux, 

 ined. 



Stems, petioles, rachis, and pedicels gla- 

 brous; flowers larger than in type; calyx 

 minutely pubescent, woolly-tomentose on 

 the margin; teeth 2 to 2.5 mm. long. Lobes 

 of the corolla longer and narrower (9 mm. 

 long, 4 mm. broad). 



Fig. 34.— Transverse sections of stems of Elateri- 

 opsis, Cyclanthera, and Frantzia. a, Of K. oerstedii; 

 b, of C. tonduzii; c, of C. langaei; d, of F. pittieri. 

 a-d, Scale (i. 



a Cogniaux 's description reads: "Pedicelli filiformes, patuli, glabri, ad medium 

 artioulati, 8 to 15 mm. longi." We fail to see the articulation in any of our specimens; 

 in a few cases there are traces of a diminutive bractlet, but this is far from being a 

 general character; also the pubescence of the pedicels is conspicuous. As to the 

 dimensions and other numerical data, they are at variance in both descriptions almost 

 from beginning to end. It may be argued, moreover, that the able monographer of 

 the Cucurbitaceae did not take sufficient notice of the striking structural differences 

 in the stems of Cyclanthera and Elateriopsis, which are shown in the cross-sections 

 here reproduced (fig. 34). 



