TWO NEW SHRUBS FROM LOWER CALIFORNIA. 



By Paul C. Standley and E. A. Goldman. 



The following new species were detected by Mr. E. A. Goldman in 

 the course of determining a large collection of plants made by Mr. 

 E. W. Nelson and himself in Lower California during the winter of 

 1905-6. The descriptions, prepared jointly by Mr. Standley and 

 Mr. Goldman, are here published in advance of a comprehensive 

 report upon the biology of the peninsula, in course of preparation 

 by the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture. 



Manihot chlorosticta Standley & Goldman, sp. nov. 



Shrub or small tree 3 to 6 meters high, half reclining; branches long and slender, 

 glabrous and smooth; leaves 5-parted almost to the base; the three upper divisions 

 40 to 80 mm. long, 7 to 30 mm. wide, obovate and entire to rather narrowly pandun- 

 form and conspicuously undulate, acuminate at the apex, glabrous and of about the 

 same color on both surfaces; the two lower lobes similar in outline, but only half as 

 long" peduncles slender, 40 to 70 mm. long; fruit ovoid, 20 mm. long, 18 mm. thick, 

 coarsely tuberculate, with thickened, coriaceous walls, on pedicels 30 to 70 mm. 

 lone- seeds broadlv oblong, truncate at the apex, obtuse at the carunculate end, 

 13 mm. long and 8 mm. wide, pale drab with broad transverse olive-green splashes; 

 caruncle trapeziform, 3.5 to 4 mm. in diameter. ,-.,«! 



Tvpo in the U S National Herbarium, no. 565478, collected at San Jos6 del Cabo, 

 Lower California, altitude about 15 meters, January 6, 1906, by E. W. Nelson and 

 E. A. Goldman (no. 7401). 



Manihot chlorosticta is a rather common species near the coast at ban Jose del cabo. 

 It has been confused with M. carthaginensis, but that species occurs much farther 

 south and has different leaves and seeds. 

 Mesosphaerum insulare Standley & Goldman, sp. nov. 



A shrub 3 to 6 meters high, with widely spreading branches, the older ones brownish 

 and glabrous, the younger finely tomentulose; leaf blades rather thick, f long-orbic- 

 ular obtuse or retuse at the apex, rounded or somewhat narrowed at the base, 10 to 20 

 mm' long and of the same width, those of the inflorescence much reduced in size, 

 tomentulose when young, becoming glabrous, the margins more or less sinuate; 

 petioles slender, tomentulose; heads of flowers axillary on glabrous, reddish brown 

 peduncles 13 to 15 mm. long; calyx about 6 mm. high, campanulate, the lobes nar- 

 rowly triangular and half as long, densely lanate except on the calyx lobes, these only 

 slightly lanate; corolla in form like that of M. lanifiorum, the lobes narrower, not 

 ciliate; nutlets cinnamon brown, smooth. 



Tvne in the U S. National Herbarium, no. 565559, collected on Espfntu Santo 

 Island, Lower California, February 7, 1906, by E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman 



^Th'is ^similar to M. lanifiorum, but the leaves differ in outline, being obtuse or 

 retuse at the apex instead of acute, and the margins are sinuate instead of dentate or 

 serrate The peduncles, besides, are stouter and the calyx lobes broader. 



The species was observed to be common along the basal slopes of the rugged hills 

 which form the high interior of the island. 375 



