440 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



laurina, thus affording a ready excuse for including Miquel's genus 



with the latter, a proceeding that is in no wise justified by the little 



we know of the Olmediae. 



The discovery in Costa Rica of a representative of Naucleopsis is 



in itself highly interesting, as it shifts far toward the west and north 



the areal limits of the genus. Nau- 

 cleopsis macwphylla and N. glabra 

 both belong to the Amazonian 

 basin. The discontinuous distribu- 

 tion indicated by the presenco of 

 a third species in Central America 

 may bo only apparent as, on ac- 

 count of the facility with which 

 trees are overlooked by collectors, 

 the same species, or perhaps others, 

 may yet be found in the interven- 

 ing region. Nor would it appear 

 very extraordinary if it came to 

 light even that Naucleopsis is in 

 reality a monotypic genus, a sug- 

 gestion that is not supported nor 

 yet precluded by our present frag- 

 mentary information. 



1. Naucleopsis macrophylla Miquel in 

 Mart. Fl. Bras. 4 1 : 120. pi. 35. 1853. 

 Plate 82. 

 Brasil: Here and there in the Ama- 

 zonian forests (von Martins). 

 Leaves more or less pubescent beneath. 



Explanation of Plate 82.— a, Twig with parts of leaves and a female inflorescence; b, view from side, 

 andc, view from beneath of female inflorescence; d, longitudinal section of the same; e, two single flowers. 

 Reproduction in part of Miquel's plate. 



2. Naucleopsis glabra Spruce, ined. (Type of genua Ogcodeia Bureau.) 

 Brasil: Near Panure on the Uaupea River, Spruce 2793. 



Leaves glabrous. 



3. Naucleopsis naga Pittier, sp. nov. Plates 83-85. Figures 66, 67. 

 A tree 8 to 10 meters high. Branchlets subangulose, covered with a grayish, ver- 



ruculose and striate bark. Leaf scars ovate, those of the stipules hardly apparent, 

 with a high angle opposite the leaf. Internodea short and irregular. 



Leaves large, distichous, more or less pendulous, massed at the ends of the twigs, 

 entirely glabrous. Petiole of the mature leaf 2.3 cm. or less thick, obscurely canalicu- 

 late, longitudinally striate in dry specimens. Leaf blades 30 to 45 cm. long, 8 to 

 12 cm. broad, elliptic-lanceolate, cuneate-rounded at base, acuminate at tip; mid- 

 vein and lateral veins obvious on both sides, but more conspicuous on the lower face, 

 where the midvein is prominent, quite smooth and longitudinally striate; primary 

 veins 22 to 24; margin entire. Stipules geminate, small (not over 15 mm. long), early 

 deciduous, minutely pubescent on the back. 



Fig. 66. — Naucleopsis naga, inflorescence, a, Ver- 

 tical section; 6, bracts at base. Natural size. 



