162 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM, 
DESCRIPTION OF BOMBACOPSIS AND ITS SPECIES. 
Bombacopsis Pittier, gen. nov. 
Calyx tubular, obscurely 5-lobulate. Petals 5, laciniate, about 12 times as long as 
the calyx. Staminal tube divided above into 5 to 8 bundles of free stamens; anthers 
l-celled. Ovary 5-celled, the cells with many ovules; style slender, obscurely 5- 
tipped. Capsule coriaceous or woody, 5-valved, dehiscent, densely woolly inside. 
Seeds small, subglobose, imbedded in the wool of the endocarp. f 
Medium-sized deciduous trees, aculeate or unarmed. Leaves digitate, 5 to 7- 
foliolate; leaflets entire. Inflorescence terminal, few-flowered, loosely paniculate. 
Peduncles 1 to 3-flowered; pedicels 3-bracteolate. Flowers white or purplish, the 
petals covered outside with dark-brown or purple scales. 
Species 2, in Panama and Costa Rica. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES, 
Trunk unarmed; capsule ovoid, woody; flower about 15 cm. long; calyx 
glandular at the base. ....... 2.2.0.2. cece eee eee eee B. sessilis. 
Trunk thickly aculeate; capsule coriaceous, 5-angled, truncate; flower 
about 10 cm. long; calyx eglandular..............2.-...-.-.-00-- B. fendleri. 
Bombacopsis sessilis (Benth.) Pittier. 
Pachira sessilis Benth. Bot. Voy. Sulph. 70. 1844. 
A middle-sized or small tree, unarmed, 10 to 20 meters high, Trunk slender, 
covered with a greenish, smooth, scaling bark. Branchlets rather slender, glabrous, 
verruculose. 
Leaves 5 or 6-foliolate, entirely glabrous. Petioles 5 to 12 cm. long, slightly broad- 
ened at the base. Leaflets sessile or subsessile, obovate or cblong, long-cuneate at the 
base, rounded, emarginate, and mucronate at the tip, the middle one 7.5 to 13 em. 
long, 3.5 to 4.5 cm. broad, the lateral ones 4.5 to 10 cm. long, 2to4.cm. broad. Margin 
entire. WVenation prominent on both sides, the primary veins straight, anastomosed 
near the margin. 
Flowers forming loose panicles at the ends of the branchlets, opening either when 
the tree is bare or when the leaves are fully developed. Peduncles usually simple, 
sometimes 2-flowered, 1 to 1.5 cm. long, 2.2 mm, thick, terete, glabrous. Calyx tubu- 
lar or subconical, 12 to 13 mm. long, 6 mm, in larger diameter, truncate and obscurely 
5-toothed, quite glabrous outside, provided at the base with 5 glands, pubescent 
inside at the bottom. Petals 14.5 cm. long, laciniate, about 7 mm. broad, rounded at 
tip, reflexed, minutely tomentose, purplish or greenish purple, at first reflexed, 
twisted after anthesis, Staminal tube 7.5 cm. long, 2.5 mm. wide, glabrous. Stamens 
about 6 cm. long, shorter than petals; filaments filiform, white, connate at the base 
into 6 to 8 bundles, each of these ramifying into 2 or 3 smaller bundles; anthers ovate- 
oblong, about 2mm, long. Pistil 16.5 cm. long; ovary pilose-pubescent; style gla- 
brous, deep pink. 
Capsule oblong, rounded at both ends, smooth, 5-sulcate, green outside. Wool 
light brown. Seeds ovate, 11 mm. long, 7.5 mm. thick, chocolate-brown and black- 
dotted. 
Bombacopsis sessilis is a morning bloomer. 
Panama: “‘Tsle of Taboga, Bay of Panama” (type). Around Culebra, Canal Zone, 
flowers, January 15, 1911, Pittier 2407, 2422. Hospital Grounds at Ancon, Canal Zone, 
flowers, February 15, 1911, Pittier 2726; fruit, March, 1910, Chas. F. Mason. (Allin 
U.S. Nat. Herb.) 
Costa Rica: Buenos Aires, Diqufs Valley, flowers, February, 1891, Piftier, Inst. 
Fis. Geogr. Costa Rica, no. 3924. (U.S. Nat. Herb.) 
