268 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



6 



4. Castilla daguensis Pittier, sp. nov. Plate 25. Figube 47. 



A tree reaching 50 meters and over: trunks BO to 100 cm. in diameter. Flo- 

 riferous twigs covered with not very dense bristly, appressed hairs. Internodes 

 2 to 5 cm. long. 



Leaves rather large, petiolate. Petioles I to 1.5 em. long, flattened laterally, 

 narrowly sulcate and covered with dense, yellowish, stiff, appressed hairs. 

 Leaf blades 20 to 40 cm. long. 10 to 15 cm. broad, elliptic-lanceolate, rounded 

 or scarcely emarginate at base, ending in an acute tip; venation little marked 

 on upper face, except for the hairy midrib and base of the primary veins, prom- 

 inent and hairy beneath; margin smooth or obscurely sinuate, with thick tufts 

 of short, brownish yellow hairs simulating teeth. Stipules caducous, 4.5 to 



0.5 cm. long, bifid at tip, narrowly striate 

 longitudinally and hairy outside, purple 

 and smooth inside. 



Receptacles of the primary male Inflor- 

 escence elongate, single or two or three 

 together, rather long-stipitate. 



Complemental male inflorescence not seen, 

 but its presence regularly indicated by one 

 scar at the side of each infructescence. 



Female inflorescence not known, except 

 the style, this slender, about 3 mm. long, 

 smooth, branching at its emergence from 

 the perianth ; stigmas 2 to 2.5 mm. long, 

 narrowly lanceolate, acute, twisted; stig- 

 matic surface covered with rounded papil- 

 lae, each crowned by a tuft of filmy, flagel- 

 late hairs. 



Receptacles of the infructescence sessile, 

 rather deep, rounded underneath. Scales 

 hairy, irregular and quite grown together. 

 Achenia 10 to 18 on each receptacle, closely adhering, except for the broad 

 conical hairy tips, on these the usual furrows replaced by 4 to 6 prominent keels. 

 Type U. S. National Herbarium no. 530791, collected by 11. Pittier (no. 00?.) 

 near Juntas, Dagua Valley, on the road from Buenaventura to Cali, Stale of 

 Cauca, Colombia, altitude 300 meters. Flowers and fruit, December 10, 1905. 

 These are the only specimens. 



The trees are remarkable for their size; several individuals seen from the 

 road below San Jose del Dagua assumed truly gigantic proportions, with a 

 somewhat striking habit. The shaft-like trunks attained a height certainly 

 not under, and perhaps over, 50 meters, and the divaricate limbs mostly pro- 

 jected horizontally, beginning about 5 meters from the ground. The tree from 

 which the type specimens were obtained, grew near the probable upper limit of 

 the species, and was of much lower stature, with a rounded crown and a trunk 

 no less than 60 cm. in diameter. Another very interesting and quite char- 

 acteristic feature of this species is the filmy layer that covers the stigmas. 

 The Dagua Valley, like the adjacent part of the Pacific coast, is known for its 

 almost ceaseless rainfall, and it is not unlikely that this film serves to retain 

 the pollen kernels, taking the place of the sticky excretion of the stigmatic glands 

 of other species, which would here be washed away by the continual showers. 



The affinities of this species are with C. (titstralis Hemsl., from which it 

 differs in having its female receptacles sessile, as well as in the slender, rather 

 long style, and the acute, twisted stigmas. 



Fruits and parts of leaves. 



Fro. 47. — Floral details of Castilla 

 rfayucnsU. a, Stylo and stigmas ; 

 b, tufts of hairs on the papilla; of 

 the stigmas, a, Scale 8.5 ; h, scale 



85. 



Explanation of Plate 25 

 size. 



From type specimen. Natural 



