216 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
trifoliolate; petioles slender, 17 to 30 mm. long, angled, finely retrorse-pubes- 
cent; stipules “deciduous; leaflets ovate-lanceolate, rounded at the base, obtuse, 
24 to 80 mm. long, of about the same color on both surfaces, sericeous on both 
sides, more densely so beneath; petiolules stout, 3 mm. long, densely pubescent; 
inflorescence of few, rather remote, simple racemes 17 cm. long or less, the 
slender branches puberulent.; flowers on slender pedicels 1 to 2 mm. long; 
bracts subulate or lanceolate, very small, early deciduous; calyx finely pubes- 
cent, the teeth triangular, acute; corolla deep purple, 5 mm. long; loment of a 
single joint, raised on a slender stipe 2.5 mm. long; joints semiorbicwlar, 15 
mm. long, conspicuously narrowed and acute at the base, rounded at the apex, 
with an obtuse sinus 2 mm. deep on the upper edge, finely puberulent, the walls 
very thin and transparent, the persistent and very slender style 3 mm. long. 
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 327048, collected along the road- 
side between San Sebastian and Las Palmas, Jalisco, Mexico, altitude 300 to 
600 meters, March 30, 1897, by E. W. Nelson (no. 4126). 
This plant is more closely related to M. skinneri than to any other member 
of the group, but it differs in the uniformly solitary joint, deep sinus, narrow 
base of the joint, and more scanty and open intlorescence. It is impossible to 
tell from our specimens whether the stems are erect or climbing. 
9. Meibomia barclayi (Benth.) Rose & Standley. PLATE 51, e. 
Desmodium barclayi Benth. Bot. Voy. Sulph. 88. 1844. 
Stems herbaceous, climbing, flexuous, uncinate-hirtellous, the branches di- 
verging almost at right angles to the main axis; leaves trifoliolate; petioles 
2 to 3 cm. long, uncinate-hirtellous; leaflets broadly ovate to rhombic-ovate, 
the terminal one largest, about 4 cm. long, the lateral ones 2 to 3 em. long, all 
puberulent on both surfaces, paler beneath; petiolules about 1 mm. long; stipules 
semiovate, acuminate, 4 mm. long, striate; inflorescence of terminal or axillary, 
sparingly branched panicles, these usually about 10 ecm. long, the branches 
sparingly uncinate; flowers not seen; loment of usually 2 joints connected by a 
very narrow isthmus, raised on a stipe 3 mm. long, the pedicels 4 or 5 mm. 
long; joints reniform-orbicular, 9 to 12 mm. long and almost as wide, with an 
acute suture 2 mm. deep upon the upper edge, the central portion bard and 
turgid, brown, surrounded by a broad and thin, green wing, the whole con- 
spicuously reticulate, glabrous except along the puberulent edges. 
Type locality, “Central America.” Type collected by Barclay. Hemsley: 
cites * a specimen of Barclay’s from Nicaragua. This is probably the type. 
Specimens examined: 
Costa Rica: Buissons 4 Nicoya, January, 1900, Tonduz, Inst. Fis. Geogr. 
Costa Rica, no. 13577. 
The specimen cited answers the original description of Desmodium barclayi 
very well, and is the only such plant examined. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 51.—Loment, a, of Meibomia painteri, from type specimen: 
b, of M. scopulorum, from a specimen of the type collection; c, of M. metallica, from 
type specimen; d, of M. mollis, from a specimen collected by Ricksecker (no. 198) at 
Jerusalem, St. Croix; e, of M. barclayi, from Nicoya, Costa Rica, Tonduz 13577; f, of 
M. lunata, from a specimen of the type collection; g, of ‘M. angustata, from type speci- 
men; h, of M. skinneri, from specimen collected by Heyde and Lux, near Garrucha, 
Guatemala (no. 3287). All twice natural size. 
* Biol. Centr. Amer, Bot. 1: 275. 1880, 
