PITTIEE — PLANTS PROM COLOMBIA AND CENTRAL AMERICA. 443 



26 years after the publication of Trecul's memoir, Bureau in De 

 Candolle's Prodromus a reinstates Maquira in its former generic 

 rank, giving it the following characteristics: "Stylus crassus. 

 Stigma bilobum, lobis brevibus crassis. Ovarium inferum." The 

 description of the style and stigma belongs to Perebea, in which, 

 according to Trecul and his followers, the ovary is semi-inferior, 

 while Aublet, the founder of the genus, leaves us in doubt as to 

 this point. 



Now, as Trecul does not seem to have seen any mature specimens 

 of the typical Perebea guianensis, it is likely that he drew his con- 

 clusions as to the relative position of the ovary from an examination 

 of his Perebea laurifolia, believed by Bureau to be precisely the same 

 thing as Maquira guianensis and credited by him with an inferior 

 ovary, while he gives this organ as superior in Perebea. And it is 

 thus that by a little shifting of the ovary, up or down, from the middle 

 position as given by Trecul, the reinstatement of the old and obscure 

 Maquira becomes possible for the monographer of the Prodromus. 



Baillon b not only follows Bureau, but completes the fragmentary 

 descriptions hitherto given, so that., except for the unknown seeds, 

 there is not any doubt left for the casual reader as to our almost 

 perfect knowledge of the genus. In the footnotes giving the bibli- 

 ography of Maquira, c however, we do not find any but the old sources 

 mentioned above and there is no indication of Baillon having had 

 opportunity to investigate new, mature, and complete specimens. 

 We feel reluctant to call attention to such an informal proceeding 

 on the part of Baillon, yet we can not but admit that his description 

 is in the main a product of the imagination. 



In the Pflanzenfamilien d Engler takes a new standpoint, assimilat- 

 ing with doubt Maquira to Helicostylis. We have thus three dif- 

 ferent views as to the real standing of that genus, badly founded 

 originally upon imperfect specimens, and as none of the expressed 

 opinions seems to be better justified than the others, it would seem 

 more logical to drop altogether the cumbersome Maquira, or relegate 

 it forever to the genera excludenda. 



EOSACEAE. 



THREE ECONOMIC TREES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 



Licania platypus (Hemsl.) Pittier. 



Moquilea platypus Hemsl. Diagn. PI. 1:9. 1878; Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 1:366. 

 1880; Hook. Icon. PL IV. 7: pi. 2618, 2619. 3899. Plate 86. 



A large tree, reaching a height of 30 to 50 meters (Hemsley) when fully developed. 

 Older branchlets rather thick, the glabrous, naked, dark purplish or brownish bark 



a 17: 282. 1873. c Loc. cit. 206. 



& Hist. PI. 6 : 154, 155, 206. 1877. d 31 : 84. 



