PITTIER PLANTS FROM COLOMBIA AND CENTRAL AMERICA. 465 



pubescent beneath; primary veins 9 to 11 on each side, prominent beneath, distant 

 4 to 8 mm., inflexed toward the end, delicately anastomosed and forming with the 

 main rib an angle of about 64°; margin revolute. 



Flowers very small (floral buds 2.5 mm. long, 2 mm. in diameter), in glomerules of 

 2 to 12 above the scars of the fallen leaves of the preceding season. Pedicels 5 to 7 

 mm. long, sparsely and minutely pubescent, each provided at the base with a very 

 small, ovate stipule. Sepals 5, conchoid and rather thick, ovate-orbiculate or semi- 

 orbicular, 1.8 to 2.2 mm. long, 1.7 to 2.5 mm. broad. Corolla white, about 1.8 mm. 

 long, with a very short (0.5 mm.) tube; exterior lobes 5, rounded-ovate, emarginate at 

 base, 1.3 mm. long, 1.5 mm. broad; interior lobes 10 in 5 pairs alternating with the 

 exterior ones, lanceolate, irregularly lobulate-denticulate, long-acuminate, 1 to 1.2 

 mm. long. Stamens 5, extrorse, opposite the outside lobes; filaments very short (0.5 

 mm.) ; anthers ovate-acuminate, cordate at base, 1 mm. long. Staminodes 5, petaloid, 

 ovate-apiculate, minutely denticulate, about 1 mm. long and 0.6 mm. broad. Pistil 

 conical, 1.5 mm. high and 0.8 mm. in diameter at the 

 base; ovary depressed, 5-celled, each cell 1-ovulate. 



Berry single, borne on a pedicel 1 cm. long, ovate, 

 abovit 3 cm. long and 2 cm. in diameter, yellow at ma- 

 turity. Seed almost globose but slightly depressed and 

 carinate back of the umbilicus, about 16 mm. long and 

 of a rich dark brown color; umbilical area near the apex, 

 ovate, pale brown, surrounded by a deep furrow. 



Nearly related to Dipholis nigra Griseb., a native of 

 Jamaica, but the flowers are smaller, the corolla about 

 equal in length with the calyx and not half longer, the 

 interior appendages lanceolate and not cordate-deltoid, 

 the berry and seed about twice as large. Besides the 

 leaves of D. minutifiora are smaller, coriaceous, obovate- 

 obtuse and with the nervation very prominent beneath. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 333967, col- 

 lected in forests of El Copey, Dota Mountains, Costa 

 Rica, altitude about 1,800 meters, February, 1898, by 

 A. Tonduz. Flowers and fruits. Same, Instituto fis. 

 geog. Costa Rica (no. 11935). 



Mimusops spectabilis Pittier, sp. nov. Figure 91. 



A beautiful and very large tree, the straight trunk often reaching a height of 40 

 meters; bark brown; crown broad and depressed. Branehlets thick (7 to 10 mm. in 

 diameter), with rugose, striate, grayish bark. Foliar scars small, impressed, more or 

 less regularly semilunar. Floral scars 1 to 3 together on a more or less prominent 

 knob, inserted above the foliar scar. 



Leaves coriaceous, glabrous, deciduous, clustered at the ends of the twigs. Petioles 

 rather slender, 2.5 to 3.5 cm. long, rounded, scarcely canaliculate. Leaf blades 

 elliptic-oblong, cuneate-rounded at the base, obtuse or subacute at the tip, 12 to 15 

 cm. long, 5 to 6 cm. broad, light green above, brownish or yellowish green beneath; 

 main rib rounded and very prominent beneath, sulcate above; primary veins 20 to 

 25, very thin, anastomosed at the marginal ends and delicately prominent beneath, 

 scarcely noticeable above; margin revolute (in dry specimens). 



Flowers in fascicles of 1 to 3 in the axils of fallen leaves. Pedicels 8 to 12 mm. 

 long, fuzzy-tomentose. Sepals 6, biseriate, ovate or ovate-oblong, 6 to 7 mm. long, 

 4 to 5 mm. broad, coriaceous, grayish and velvety-tomentose outside, smooth inside. 

 Corolla tubulose, about 7 mm. long; tube 2.5 to 3 mm. long; exterior lobes 12, ovate- 

 oblong, obtuse at tip, with a sinuate margin, about 3 mm. long and 1.7 mm. broad, 

 slightly pubescent on the back; interior lobes 6, ovate, attenuate at base, rounded at 

 tip, 4 mm. long and 2.5 mm. broad. Stamens 6; filaments free, broadened at the 



Fig. 91. — Mimusops spectabilis, 

 floral details, a, Segment of 

 corolla, back (outer) view, 

 showing two exterior and 

 one interior lobe; b, interior 

 corolla lobe; c, two stami- 

 nodes, spread; d, stamens; e, 

 pistil longitudinally split; /, 

 section across ovary. Scale 8, 



