120 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
Type in the U. 8. National Herbarium, no. 300363, collected at Acaponeta, Terri- 
torio de Tepic, Mexico, July 2 or 3, 1897, by J. N. Rose (no. 1522). Collected again 
by Dr. Rose near Acaponeta, July 29, 1897 (no. 3285). 
Very probably to be referred here are specimens of fruit sold in the market at Mazat- 
lin, Sinaloa (Rose, Standley & Russell 13981), under the name ‘“‘guayaparin.” The 
form of the calyx lobes suggests Diospyros rosei, but there are, of course, no leaves 
present. The fruit is black and nearly 4 cm. in diameter; the seeds are broadly oval 
to suborbicular in outline, 11 to 13 mm. long, 9 to 10 mm. wide, and 3 to 4 mm, thick, 
acute or acutish on the inner side, dark brown, and slightly roughened. 
Diospyros rosei is closely related to D, sonorae. The calyx lobes, however, are of 
different form, being broadest below the middle and acute or acutish at the apex, 
rather than broadest above the middle and obtuse, as in the latter species; and the 
leaves are much more narrowed at the base, thinner, and on longer petioles. 
Diospyros sonorae Standley, sp. nov. 
Section Paralea. A small or large tree with stout thick trunk and rounded crown, 
the branches spreading; branchlets slender, gray, at first densely puberulent but 
glabrate in age; leaves persistent, alternate, the petioles stout, 2 to 3 or rarely 6 mm. 
long, puberulent; leaf blades oblong, narrowly oblong, or rarely oblanceolate-oblong, 
5.5 to 13 cm. long, 2 to 4.2 cm. wide, rounded at the apex and sometimes emarginate, 
broadly rounded or obtuse at the base or sometimes obtusely cuneate, subcoriaceous, 
pale grayish green, glabrous on the upper surface, minutely puberulent beneath, at 
least when young, the midvein prominent beneath, slightly impressed above, the 
lateral veins 6 or 7 on each side, connected by numerous prominent reticulate vein- 
lets; flowers not seen; fruit solitary or fascicled in the axils, on stout ligneous pedicels 
12 to 15 mm. long; fruiting calyx 3 to 4 cm. broad, 5 (rarely 4-) lobed nearly to the 
base, the lobes oblong or elliptic-oblong, 5 to 11 mm. broad, broadest at or above the 
middle, obtuse or rounded at the apex, finely puberulent or glabrate, conspicuously 
veined; fruit depressed-globose, about 2.5 cm. in diameter, densely fulvous-puberulent 
when young, glabrate in age, 8-celled; seeds suboval in outline, 12 mm. long, 8 mm, 
broad, 6 mm. thick, blackish brown, cuneate in cross section, the inner edge very 
acute. 
Type in the U. 8. National Herbarium, no. 335774, collected at Alamos, Sonora, . 
Mexico, December 27, 1898, by E. A. Goldman (no. 276). 
ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS EXAMINED: 
Sonora: Alamos, cultivated in the edge of town, March 10, 1910, Rose, Standley 
& Russell 12947. Two miles west of Hermosillo, cultivated, March 8, 1910, 
Rose, Standley & Russell 12543. 
In spite of the absence of flowers there is little doubt that this species is referred 
correctly to the section Paralea. It is related probably to D. guianensis (Aubl.) 
Giirke (D. paralea Steud.), a native of the Guianas, Brazil, and Colombia, a species 
with subsessile fruit and broader, thinner, acute, deep green leaves. The Sonoran 
tree has been confused with Diospyros ebenaster Retz., a species which is probably 
native in Malaysia and is widely cultivated in tropical regions. At the beginning of 
the nineteenth century D. ebenaster was found growing at Cuernavaca, Mexico, doubt- 
less cultivated. In the U. S. National Herbarium there are Mexican specimens from 
Cuernavaca (Rose & Hough 4435, Pringle 6992), La Junta, Chiapas (Collins & Doyle 
14), and the vicinity of Guadalajara (Safford 1416, 1463). Pringle’s no. 6992 was 
distributed as D. ebeneum Koen., but it is evidently not that species. Diospyros 
ebenaster is distinguished from D. sonorae by its very large, inconspicuously veined, 
glabrous leaves and larger fruit on short pedicels. 
Diospyros sonorae appears to be known only in cultivation, but probably it is a 
native of the western slopes of the northern Sierra Madre. It is known at Hermosillo 
as “guayaparin,’”? a name applied also to other species of this genus. The fruit is 
edible, but the black pulp is unattractive in appearance and insipid to the taste. 
