68 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
A second species, with obpyriform or pyramidal, acuminate flower buds and 
long, narrow petals, figured by the writer under the name Annona jamaicensis, 
as cited in the above synonymy, has recently been described by Fawcett and 
Rendle as Annona praetermissa. The specimen from which the figure was 
drawn was received by the writer from its collector, Mr. William Harris, who 
found it growing on Sheldon Road, St. Andrew, at an altitude of 750 meters, 
September 10, 1897 (no. 6861). It was distributed under the name of “A. 
jamaicensis Sprague.” Its single flower differed greatly from that of A. 
jamaicensis as described by Sprague and as observed on Prior’s specimen in 
the Gray Herbarium. This led the writer to ask for further material, in a 
letter to Mr. Harris, dated November 29, 1912, in which he made the follow- 
ing notes and queries: 
Annona jamaicensis, as described by Sprague (A. sericea Griseb. non Dun.), 
has ovate petals 11 to 12 mm. long and 8 mm. broad, while in the specimen 
collected by you the flower has quite a different shape, with linear-oblong 
petals 23 mm. long and 6 mm. broad. The fruit of your specimen and also 
the seeds are larger than those described by Sprague. * * * The cotype of 
A. jamaicensis in the Gray Herbarium has a single globose flower, like that 
shown in the accompanying figure. Can it be that specimens seen by Sprague 
had only immature flowers; or is it possible that there are two similar wild 
Annonas growing in the mountains of Jamaica, one with globose buds and 
broadly ovate petals, the other with elongate buds like those of A. reticulata 
and linear-oblong, or broadly linear petals? * * * 
Mr. Harris had at this time no further material available; but on October 18, 
1913, he sent a number of fine specimens with abundance of flowers, both imma- 
ture and mature (collected June 25, 1913, near Petersfield, St. Andrew, no. 
11,648). This new material showed by the acuminate, pyramidal or obpyri- 
form buds that it represented a species distinct from Annona jamaicensis, but 
it was too late to make any changes in the writer’s paper on “Annona sericea 
and its allies.’ The writer then sent a photograph of Alexander Prior’s speci- 
men of A. jamaicensis to Mr. Harris,’ and once more called his attention to the 
marked difference between it and the specimens collected by Mr. Harris. In 
a letter dated December 19, 1913, Mr. Harris acknowledged the receipt of the 
photograph and conceded it to be quite possible that the specimen represents 
another species. 
Annona praetermissa may be properly called the ‘wild chirimoya of Jamaica.” 
It must not only be separated from A. jamaicensis, but it must take its place 
with A. cherimola Mill., A. longiflora S. Wats., and their allies in the section 
Atta. It is described as having 3-petaled flowers, but like A. cherimola it has 
in addition to the three outer elongated petals three minute inner petals, ovate 
in shape, not exceeding half the length of a stamen, and clothed with tomen- 
tum. These are so small that they can be seen only with the aid of a lens; 
so that it is not strange that, like those of the chirimoya (first described as 
Annona tripetala), they should have escaped observation. The close affinity of 
this species with A. cherimola Mill. is shown by its flowers, fruit, and leaves. 
As in the latter species, the flowers never open widely. They are solitary or 
geminate and are extra-axillary or leaf-opposed. The fruit is distinctly areo- 
late, resembling that variety of chirimoya in which the areoles are concave; 
and each areole bears a mammiform tubercle slightly incurved or hooked at the 
tip. The leaves, persistently pubescent beneath, are often relatively narrower 
than those of a typical chirimoya leaf, and are chiefly to be distinguished by 
the reddish brown midrib and lateral nerves which are conspicuously con- 
trasted with the dull greenish color of the remainder of the lower surface. 
1 See loc. cit. pl. 98, 
