384 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Honduras: San Pedro Sula, Depart. Santa Barbara, alt. 240 meters, September, 

 1888, Thieme 5423. 



This appears to be a most variable species in the size of the staminate perianth and 

 in the form of the inflorescence; there is considerable variation in the leaf outline as 

 well. The material cited possibly represents more than one species, but if so they are 

 so closely related that with such insufficient material it seems unwise to attempt to 

 separate them. 



Closely related to Neea psychotrioidcs, but apparently distinct, is a specimen col- 

 lected by John Hart at Bocae del Toro, Panama (no. 168) . It may be a South American 

 species. 



4. Neea sphaerantha Standley, sp. nov. 



Branches slender, grayish, smooth, glabrous; leaf blades oblong or oval to eljiptic- 

 oblong, 17 to 53 mm. long and 9 to 20 mm. wide, thin, glabrous, obtuse or aeutish 

 at the apex, rounded or broadly cuneate at the base, on slender petioles 4 to 10 

 mm. long; inflorescence a rather open corymb with but few branches, 40 mm. broad 

 or less, on a slender glabrous peduncle 22 to 40 mm. long; branches of the inflores- 

 cence glabrous or sparingly puberulent, the bractlets thick and mostly lanceolate; 

 staminate flowers almost spherical, 4 to 5 mm. long, about 3.5 mm. wide, short-pedi- 

 celed, nervulose (appearing minutely strigillose), obscurely 4-toothed at the apex; 

 stamens 6, unequal, slightly more than half as long as the perianth; pistillate flowers 

 and fruit not seen. 



Type in the Herbarium of the Field Museum of Natural History, no. 278505, collected 

 at Izamal, Yucatan, by G. F. Gaumer (no. 697). A most distinct species in its 

 nervulose perianths and obtuse or only aeutish leaf blades which ant not so much 

 narrowed at the base as in the related species. What appear under a low-power lens 

 to be minute appressed hairs are really minute, light-colored nerves. 

 6. Neea tenuis Standley, sp. nov. Plate 74. 



Branches slender, smooth, brownish, glabrous; leaves opposite in pairs or verticillate 

 in 4's, the blades lanceolate-elliptic, 44 to 50 mm. long and 14 to 19 mm. wide, 

 attenuate at the apex, aeutish at the base, thin, glabrous, on petioles 3 mm. long; 

 inflorescence a loose corymb, the branches very slender, almost capillary, flexuous, 

 glabrous or with a sparse, appressed, rufescent pubescence, about 35 mm. high and 40 

 mm. wide; peduncles very slender, glabrous, 60 to 70 mm. long; bractlets subulate; 

 staminate perianth 3 to 4 mm. long, oblong, glabrous or nearly so; stamens 6, one-third 

 as long as the perianth, (he filaments unequal; pistillate flowers and fruit not seen. 



Type in the Gray Herbarium, collected by Botteri about Orizaba, State of Vera- 

 cruz, Mexico. From N. psychotrioidcs the plant differs in its smaller leaves on short 

 petioles, slender branches, and long and very slender peduncles. 



The photograph is of the type sheet . 

 6. Neea choriophylla Standley, sp. nov. 



Branches stout, pale grayish or brownish, smooth and glabrous; leaf blades elliptic- 

 oblong, thick and leathery, glabrous, 45 to 70 mm. long and 20 to 30 mm. wide, acumi- 

 nate, the tips being 7 to 15 mm. long, broadly cuneate at the base, on stout petioles 4 

 to 10 mm. long; inflorescence a narrow, rather compact corymb 20 mm. broad or less, 

 on a glabrous or puberulent peduncle 15 to 30 mm. long; branches of the inflorescence 

 rufescent-puberulent, stout; bractlets narrowly triangular, minute, 3 or 4 at the base 

 of each flower; pistillate flowers tubular, 3 mm. long or less, minutely and sparingly 

 puberulent, 4-toothed at the apex; stigma fimbriate, the style slightly exserted; 

 staminate flowers not seen. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 571766, collected in Yucatan by G. F. 

 Gaumer (no. 761). The very thick leaves of this plant are strikingly different from 

 those of any other species treated here, although they suggest those of some of the South 

 American species. The leaf outline, too, is very different from that of the related 

 species. 



