PITTIER—-PLANTS FROM COLOMBIA AND CENTRAL AMERICA. 151 
striate, pubescent in young leaves, more or less smooth, verruculose and reddish later; 
petiole short (1 to 1.5 cm.), hairy or glabrescent. Petiolules 6 mm. long, pubescent 
or glabrous, Blades of the smaller basal leaflets ovate or ovate-elliptic, cordate, long- 
cuspidate, the smallest ones 3 cm. long and 1 cm. broad. Blades of the remaining 
leaflets elliptic, long-acuminate, rounded, oblique, and more or less emarginate at the 
base, 8 to 16 cm. long, 2 to 5 cm. broad, the broader half on the inside. Stipules linear, 
narrow, acuminate, caducous; stipels linear, 1 cm. long, caducous. 
Inflorescence axillary or terminal, densely flowered, the rachis of the spike more or 
less hairy. Bracts pinkish, whitish-tomentose outside, broadly ovate and about 4 cm. 
long at the base of the spikes, narrowing at the tip to a narrow spatulate or linear ap- 
pendage. Flowers scarlet pink, in the axils of the bracts. Pedicels rather slender, 
hairy, 7 to8 mm. long. Sheath 2.5 cm. long, tubular and slightly wider at tip, finely 
pubescent outside, unequally cleft and bilabiate at tip, the lobes subacute. Recep- 
tacle tube 1.7 cm. long, slightly obconical, subangulose, glabrous outside, hairy inside. 
Sepals 4, 1.8 cm. long, free, the anterior one broad (about 15 mm.) and subemarginate 
at the rounded tip, the others narrow (8 mm.), elliptic, and emarginate at tip. Petals 
3.4 to 3.5 cm. long, 1.2 to 1.3 cm. broad, obovate-spatulate, the lateral ones narrower, 
more or less oblique and irregular, the claw long and slender. Stamens 11, free or 
slightly connate at the base, 3.5 to 4 cm. long, slightly arcuate, the connate part of 
the filaments hairy inside, the anthers ovate, elliptic, 3.5 mm. long. Pistil a little 
over 6 cm. long from base of receptacle, the ovary densely pilose-pubescent, the style 
glabrous or very sparsely hairy and ending in a very small capitellate stigma. 
Legume 15 to 18 cm. long, 4.5 to 5 cm. broad, single or 2 to each flower head, borne 
on a pedicel 2.5 cm. long, often surrounded by the persistent bractlets, short-stipitate 
(stipe about 7 mm, long), compressed, sulcate on the dorsal suture, bisulcate on the 
ventral one, 4-seeded, apiculate, yellowish or brownish hirsute-tomentose on the 
surface, expelling the seeds by the curling of the valves. Seeds elliptic-ovate, de- 
pressed, 5 cm. long, 2.5 cm. broad, and 1.5 cm. thick, both faces rugose and irregularly 
striate, the umbilicus salient and the omphalodic band extending all around the 
margin. 
Cotomsta: In forests near Guaduas, Province of Bogot4é, Colombia, at an altitude 
of about 450 meters (type). Santa Marta, H. H. Smith 931; Cali, Cauca, flowers, De- 
cember 13, 1905, Pittier 613. (Both in U. 8. Nat. Herb.) 
Panama: Hospital grounds at Ancon, Canal Zone, cultivated, flowers and fruit, 
February 18, 1911, Pittier 2722 (U. S. Nat. Herb.). 
There are some small discrepancies between Bentham’s very brief description and 
mine, as well as differences between specimens of distinct origin. Thus, the sheath 
was found in every case to be less than twice the length of the receptacle tube and 
not thrice as long as indicated by the above author, and while the stamens are free to 
the base, asin the type, in the specimen from Santa Marta, they show a slight adherence 
in those from Calf and Ancon. On the whole, however, the evidence is such as to 
leave no doubt as to the identity of our plant with that collected by Hartweg. 
The specimens from Calf and Ancon were collected from cultivated trees. Brownea 
ariza is indeed, as are several other species of the same genus, a beautiful ornament of 
tropical parks and gardens. The large tree at Ancon is about 5 meters high, with a 
depressed, spreading crown and drooping boughs. The dense foliage itself, with the 
new leaves brightly purple-colored and hanging in heavy bunches, never fails to 
attract the eye, and the crimson heads of the flowers are of a gorgeous beauty. 
If, however, the number cf 400 to 500 flowers in each spike, as given by Bonpland 
for Brownea grandiceps, is exact, B. ariza probably remains far behind. Thirty-five 
to 50 flowers on one head were found opened at one time on the tree at Ancon. Anthe- 
sis begins at the base of the spike and as the sterile flowers fall, others appear on the 
following whorls of bracts. The pods are usually terminal on the axis of the spike. 
5432°—16——2 
