PITTIER—-PLANTS FROM COLOMBIA AND CENTRAL AMERICA. 161 
AN INTERMEDIATE GENUS REQUIRED. 
Besides at least 1 species of Bombax (B. barrigon (Seem.) Decaisne) 
and 2 of Pachira (P. aquatica Aubl., P. villosula Pittier), there are in 
Panama 2 other species, considered by both Bentham and Seemann 
to belong to Pachira, but which, according to the generic definition, 
might just as well stand under Bombax. As the fruit of neither of 
them was known, their being placed in Pachira was justified on the 
ground of the general appearance of the flower. The transfer by 
Hemsley ! of Pachira fendleri Seem. to Bombax was rather guesswork, 
and it is likely that the peculiarly shaped capsule of that tree would 
have puzzled to some extent the eminent botanist of the Kew Her- 
barium. The name of the closely related Pachira sessilis Benth. 
remained unchanged, but its fruit so much resombles that of a Bombax 
that this tree also might with some reason be listed in this genus. 
As it is, these two species form a group almost exactly intermediate 
between Pachira and Bombax, the flower differing from that of the 
first only in minor details, and the fruit departing but in one point 
from the capsule which characterizes Bombax. 
At first sight the flowers look like miniatures of those of Pachira. 
The calyx is tubular and narrow, the petals are long, laciniate, and 
inserted on a cufflike disc inclosing the base of the staminal tube. 
This is again much longer than in Bombax and it divides into 5 
fascicles in which the staminal filaments are parted from the base. 
In Bombaz sessile (Benth.) Decaisne the fruit has the rounded 
exterior of that of Pachira aquatica, but its seeds are of the size and 
appearance of a small pea and surrounded by the woolly bed that 
characterizes Bombax. The capsule of Pachira fendlert Seem., on 
the other hand, is quite distinct, being small, with coriaceous instead 
of woody walls, a pentagonal section, and a truncate apex. 
From the above it appears clearly that we have in Panama two 
Bombacaceae nearly related to Pachira and Bombax, but which can 
not be placed in either group. They should then form for themselves 
a new genus, for which the name ‘‘Bombacopsis”’ is proposed. 
KEY TO BOMBAX, PACHIRA, AND BOMBACOPSIS. 
The following is a tentative key for the determination of the three 
genera: 
Seeds 1.5 cm. or more in diameter, imbedded in the fleshy dissepi- 
ments of the capsule; flowers large and elongated (up to 35 cm. 
long); staminal fascicles repeatedly branched.........-.----- PACHIRA. 
Seeds 6 mm. or lessin diameter; flowers rather short (not above 15 cm. 
long); staminal fascicles dividing at once into single filaments. . 
Flowers short and thick; stamens very numerous (about 1,400).. BomBax. 
Flowers slender; stamens about 75. .......-------------+e++++-- BomMBACOPSIS. 
1 Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 1: 124, 1879. 
