112 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
WERCKLEA Pitt. & Standl., gen. nov. 
A tree of medium size; leaves alternate, long-petioled, the blades broadly rounded, 
entire or repand-undulate, palmately nerved; stipules broad and foliaceous; pubes- 
cence sparse, of short stellate hairs; flowers solitary in the axils, long-peduncled; 
involucre tubular-campanulate, shallowly 3-lobed, usually split nearly to the base 
on one side by the developing flower; calyx narrowly campanulate, 5-lobed to about 
the middle, the lobes acute, 3-nerved; petals 5, united for a short distance at the base 
with each other and with the stamen tube, spatulate-oblanceolate, somewhat clawed, 
palmately nerved; stamen tube striate, one-third as long as the petals, antheriferous 
for half or two-thirds its length, shallowly 5-lobed at the summit; anthers oblong, 
longitudinally dehiscent; ovary sessile, 5-celled; ovules pendulous, numerous in each 
cell, amphitropous; style filiform, striate, with 5 ascending branches; stigmas capitate 
or fimbriate; capsule oblong, with a long stout beak at the apex, broadly winged along 
the sutures by the well developed exocarp; seeds ovoid-reniform, hispid. 
Wercklea is a member of the subfamily Hibisceae, and is most closely related to the 
genus Hibiscus. Several important points of difference, however, make it unwise to 
refer it to that genus. The involucre is merely 3-lobed before anthesis, while in all 
species of Hibiscus the bracts are separate. Paritium, sometimes referred to Hibiscus, 
has united bracts, but they are 5 instead of 3. The winged capsule, oblong anthers, 
and comparatively few stamens are other distinguishing features, but the best, per- 
haps, is the fact that the ovules are amphitropous rather than anatropous. 
The genus is named for Mr. C. Wercklé, the collector of the type, who has botanized 
extensively in little known regions of Central America and Colombia. 
Wercklea insignis Pitt. & Standl., sp. nov. 
A tree 9 to 10 meters high with a trunk 30 to 40 cm, in diameter and a rounded top; 
young branches stout and succulent, sparingly pubescent with whitish stellate hairs; 
stipules foliaceous, orbicular or broader to obovate or oblong, sessile by a broad base, 
entire; petioles 6 to 32 cm. long; leaf blades reniform-orbicular, 15 to 40 cm. broad, 
entire or repand-undulate, bright green, with a few scattered stellate hairs on the 
upper surface and more numerous ones beneath, the principal veins usually 7; pedun- 
cles stout, 5 to 14 cm. long, stellate-pubescent at anthesis but soon glabrate; involucre 
monophyllous, 14 to 20 mm. long, 3-lobed, the sinuses often very shallow but some- 
times extending nearly to the base, the lobes obtuse or rounded, sparingly stellate- 
pubescent, cleft almost half way to the base; calyx lobes triangular or triangular- 
ovate, acute; corolla about 12 cm. long and of the same breadth; petals spatulate- 
oblanceolate, obtuse to truncate at the apex, entire, lilac rose, yellow at the base, 
sparingly pilose; capsule oblong, 5 cm, long, with a stout beak 10 to 12 mm. long, 
densely hispid, glabrous within, with thin double wings along the angles, these 
dividing with the dehiscence of the capsule; seeds 3 mm. long, dark brown, densely 
covered with stiff tawny hairs about 3 mm. long. 
Type in the U. 8S. National Herbarium, no. 678449, collected in the forests near La 
Palma, central Costa Rica, altitude about 1,460 meters, by C. Wercklé. Additional 
material of the same collection is mounted on sheets 678448 and 678451. 
ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS EXAMINED: 
Costa Rica: La Palma, September 8, 1898, Tonduz (Inst. Fis. Geogr. Costa Rica, 
no. 12536). Cultivated in a garden, Guadalupe, October, 1910, Jiménez 19. 
The tree grows in the humid forest at the summit of the mountains about La Palma, 
a region swept by the moist trade winds from the east. The surrounding trees are 
usually covered with lichens and other epiphytes, but the trunks of Wercklea are bare 
of such growths. 
