PITTIER — PLANTS FROM COLOMBIA AND CENTRAL AMERICA. 433 



Olmedia cubensis Klotzsch, Linnaea 20 : 523. 1847. 



Cuba : In forests, Poeppig; San Jose, Wright 2223. 



Jamaica : Swartz, Alex. Prior; Saint Anns, Gmebach. 



Porto Rico : Along Rio Blanco in Sierra de Naguabo, February 5, 1886, Sintenis 

 5382. 



Panama : Lion Hill, Hayes 639. 



The fruit of P. havanensis has never been described; it is like an egg-shaped berry, 

 about 14 mm. long, carnose, yellowish or red (?), stipitate. The seed is ovoid-elongate, 

 7 mm. long, 4.5 mm. in diameter, and covered with a brownish integument, Wright 

 2223. 



2. Pseudolmedia laevigata Trecul, Ann. Sci. Nat. III. 8: 131. 1847. 

 Peru: Without locality, Herb. Webb. 



3. Pseudolmedia oxyphyllaria Donnell Smith, Bot. Gaz. 



20: 294. 1895. Figure 58. 



Guatemala : Volcan de Tecuamburro, Santa Rosa, alt. 2,000 

 meters, Heyde & Lux, male flowers, February, 1893, Donnell 

 Smith 4429 (IT. S. National Herbarium no. 481107). 



4. Pseudolmedia ferruginea Trecul, Ann. Sci. Nat. III. 8: 



131. pi. 5. f. 155-157. 1847. Figure 59. 



Olmedia ferruginea Poepp. & Endl. 

 Nov. PL Poepp. 2: 31. 1838. 



Peru : Primeval forests around Lake 

 Ega, Amazon Basin, Poeppig. 



5. Pseudolmedia macrophylla Tre- 

 cul, Ann. Sci. Nat. III. 8: 132. 

 1847. 

 Peru: Without locality, Herb. 



Vp III) Webb - 



A VsW OLMEDIA. 



V e/' 



Fig. 58.— Pseudolmedia 

 oxyphyllaria, details of 

 male flower, a, Outer 

 bract; b, one of the 

 middle bracts; c, group 

 of stamens with one 

 spatulate bractlet; d,d\ 

 single stamens. Scale 3. 



Fig. 59.— Pseudolmediafer- 

 ruginea, female flower. 

 o, Female flower with 

 involucre; b, the same 

 without involucre; c, 

 longitudinal section of 

 the same, a, Natural 

 size; b, c, considerably 

 enlarged. From Trecul, 

 Ann. Sci. Nat. III. 8: 

 pi. 5. 



The type of the genus is Olmedia aspera Ruiz & 

 Pa v., and the fundamental characters are, the 

 female inflorescences bearing a single flower, sur- 

 rounded by a bracteal involucre, and the tubulose 

 or urceolate perianth surrounding the four sta- 

 mens. Of the eight species known up to the 

 present, one, O. laurina, is doubtful, its apparent 

 affinities being with Perehea calophylla Benth. & 

 Hook. (Olmedia calophylla Poepp.) ; two, 0. aspera and 0. tovarensis, 

 have been poorly described on almost complete specimens; of O. rigida 

 and O. laevis, only the female flowers have been superficially mentioned ; 

 while of the remaining species, O. caucana, 0. grandifolia, and O. fal- 

 cifolia, we know little besides the leaves and the male flowers. Under 

 such conditions, any attempt at a natural grouping of the species 

 according to their specific affinities is almost useless, and we must 

 have recourse mainly to the leaf to establish an artificial key. 



o Olmedia Kuiz & Pav. Syst. Veg. Peruv. Chil. 257. 1798. 



